NYDC Rebounds With Win Over Austin Quidditch

Originally appeared on iqaworldcup.com on April 5, 2014. (http://iqaworldcup.com/nydc-rebounds-with-win-over-austin-quidditch/)

In a matchup that pitted two 0-1 teams against each other in the difficult “pool of death,” the NYDC Capitalists got back on track after a disappointing loss to the Santa Barbara Blacktips, with a 110*-80 victory over Austin Quidditch (AQ). Seeker Freddy Varone, who was highlighted as NYDC’s underrated player in the Capitalists’ March to Myrtle, caught the snitch to break the 80-80 tie and give NYDC its first victory of the day.

NYDC’s defense came out strong against AQ, displaying the alertness and precise rotations that  the squad lacked against Santa Barbara. However, Jonah Wagoner and Jeremy Avelar used the fast break to keep AQ within snitch range of the Capitalists, converting goals at key times. AQ held bludger control for a majority of the game, using a conservative beating strategy to prevent NYDC from regaining the third bludger. Despite AQ’s bludger control, NYDC had a solid individual performance from beater Michael Musatow, a mid-season transfer from Virginia Commonwealth University. The intense, back-and-forth game was capped by Varone’s snatch on “pink-haired-snitch” Kyle Carpenter.

“We [have] just got to learn how to catch the snitch,” said Nathan Vest, captain of Austin Quidditch. “Same result twice today…We’ll never be able to win games if we can’t do that.”

The match against AQ was NYDC’s first game of the season against a team from the Southwest, a region with a reputation for being physical. The Capitalists underperformed in the physicality department against the Santa Barbara Blacktips, but the Mid-Atlantic community team responded well to AQ’s hard-hitting style of play, dishing out their usual dose of physicality.

“We played like NYDC,” said Amanda Dallas, captain of the NYDC Capitalists and IQA editorial manager. “[In] the Santa Barbara game we weren’t ourselves and this game we played like NYDC.”

Austin Quidditch, who dropped its first game against Michigan 90*-50, will face elimination against the Santa Barbara Blacktips on field eight at 6 p.m.

“Looking forward to Santa Barbara,” Vest said, “[which] is a very, very talented team, we’ve just got to do everything we did beater-wise and chaser-wise [against NYDC] and then bring our seeker game up.”

NYDC improved 1-1, notching a vital first World Cup VII victory, and will play cross-town rivals the New York Badassilisks at 5 p.m. on field five.