Fury-Molly Brown and Brute Squad-Scandal are classic matchups. What will make this year’s iterations different?
October 26, 2024 by Jenna Weiner in Preview with 0 comments
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We have made it to Semifinal Saturday, and as many expected before the season it has come down to #1 San Francisco Fury, #2 Boston Brute Squad, #4 Washington DC Scandal, and #5 Denver Molly Brown. As in numerous seasons past, chalk has once again reigned supreme in the women’s division, though the path we took to get here wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed at first glance. Still, arguably the best four teams at the start of the season have come through as the four best teams at the end of the season, and now we have a pair of title game rematches as the capstone games of the year1. With plenty of history between these four titans of the division, what will make the difference this time around as Fury face down Molly Brown and Scandal take on Brute Squad? We’ll find out later today, but here are some of our initial thoughts ahead of game time tonight.
Semifinal #1: Fury vs Molly Brown
These two Western giants last saw each other in the final of PEC West earlier this season, Molly Brown delivering Fury their only loss of the season 14-12. Although it is a direct head-to-head result, trying to draw conclusions from a first-tournament matchup is always risky, and so far this tournament Fury have looked the better team. That’s perhaps not surprising given that the Bay Area titans came in as the overall number one seed, but before the season there were real question marks about what this version of Fury would look like.
The actual games this year, though, have shown us that this iteration of Fury isn’t so different from seasons past. Carolyn Finney and Anna Nazarov have seemingly turned back the clock despite (or because of) their considerable WUC obligations over the summer, Irene Scazzieri has terrorized teams in the deep space, and Anna Thompson has demonstrated why she’s considered next up in the long line of all-time great Fury handlers. Add in their usual suffocating defensive pressure and, while some of the names are different, Fury have shown that their level is just as high as ever. The difference for Fury against Molly Brown will be whether they can string together the kind of runs they put up against Flipside and 6ixers, without putting themselves in an early hole like they did in both of those games before roaring back for the win.
Molly Brown are the only non-pool winners to make it to semifinals in the women’s division, and they barely made it in at that with a universe point win over Phoenix in quarters. Add in two more universe point games against 6ixers and Brute Squad, and Molly Brown could be considered quite lucky to have even gotten this far. The shift from their early season success against Fury to their narrow margins this weekend would seem to suggest that Molly Brown should be considerable underdogs in tonight’s semifinal, but that would be to overlook the pure top-end talent that Denver possesses. Valeria and Manuela Cárdenas, along with Claire Chastain, make up arguably the most potent trio in the division, and they’re joined by the likes of Nhi Nguyen, Alika Johnston, and Blaise Sevier, all of whom have played major roles for Molly Brown this weekend.
With that kind of top-end talent, there’s every chance that Denver will be able to repeat their performance against Fury from earlier this season in the semifinal. Then again, the Cárdenas twins haven’t consistently looked like their best selves through five games, and any let down from Molly Brown is bound to be punished by Fury. The key for Denver against the San Franciscans, then, will be to find the best way to get the most out of their prodigious talent, and to avoid letting Fury back into the game in the same way they gave those chances to Phoenix, Brute Squad, BENT, and 6ixers earlier in the tournament.
Semifinal #2: Scandal vs Brute Squad
A year ago, Scandal and Brute Squad played each other twice in the span of four days, dueling in pool play (a Scandal win) before Boston rolled to the program’s fourth national title. The teams haven’t faced off since, and both squads have had some notable additions and departures in the intervening time. Whether or not those players prove instrumental to their team’s success in this matchup remains to be seen, though with both Scandal and Brute Squad undefeated so far, the margins are bound to be small in their nightcap semifinal tonight.
Scandal were in trouble in their final pool play game against BENT. They trailed New York 13-11, having been behind from the start, and didn’t look like they’d be making a major comeback any time soon. Then Claire Trop and Kami Groom took over, and Scandal put together a 4-1 run to close it out. That kind of explosive firepower is what helped DC put away Flipside in quarters, and what could allow them to get revenge on their East Coast rivals in the semifinal tonight. Granted, Trop and Groom were also the primary playmakers last year for Scandal, and DC still wilted when Brute turned up the heat in the final. The difference for Scandal against Brute Squad this time around though may be their improved depth of talent. That’s come both through players leveling up their games (Marge Walker, Allie Wallace, and Ashleigh Jentilet to name a few) and through some notable new additions (Marie Périvier, Raha Mozafarri, Annelise Peters, and Tyler Smith the biggest names). That could be enough to make the difference and earn Scandal a third title in program history and the first since 2014.
Reigning champions Brute Squad were two points away from going 1-2 in pool play and having to fight their way through prequarters and a potential quarters matchup with Fury. Not only that, but they were behind for long stretches in both of their universe point games against 6ixers and Molly Brown. And yet, here they are, in the semifinals for a tenth straight season, and playing a team in Scandal that they cruised past in last year’s final. It seems like the same old story that we’ve seen from Brute Squad year after year, and to a large extent it is. Angela Zhu, Liên Hoffman, and Tulsa Douglas are among the long-tenured Boston players who are still contributing at a high level, and the vaunted Brute Squad defense is still capable of putting fear into even the best players’ eyes. Levke Walczak, Samiya Ismail, and Zoe Hecht are more recent additions to the team, but all three have made a major impact in their third seasons with the team. The difference for Brute Squad against Scandal, though, may be their rookie class, which includes Dutch superstar Floor Keulartz and former Tufts stars Lia Schwartz and Emily Kemp, all of whom have come up clutch this season for Boston. Last year’s game plan might still work for Brute Squad in this semifinal matchup, but it can’t hurt to have some top-tier backup too.
Molly Brown beat Fury in the 2022 final, and Brute Squad beat Scandal in last year’s championship game ↩
