The third edition of the Northeast Qualifier takes place this coming weekend in Philadelphia. Below, we preview and predict the 15 and 16 Open divisions.
16 OPEN
Number of Teams: 41
Number of Bids: 3
Teams With Bids (8): Circle City 16 Purple; NKYVC 16-1 Tsunami; Metro 16 Travel; Triangle 16 Black; TAV 16 Black; Co Jrs 16 Sherri; Rockwood Thunder 16 Elite; AJV 16 Adidas
Outlook: This has the making of being an incredible qualifier. First off, it features four clubs who have already won qualifiers. Circle City finished first at Show Me. Triangle took the top honors at Big South. TAV bested the field at Lone Star. And Co Jrs is in its first action since claiming the title at Salt Lake in early March. They are four of the eight qualified teams in the field so there is no guarantee that any bids go out in Philly. Of course, that would mean all the qualified teams finishing in the top eight. We’ll definitely have to wait until Day 3 to see how the bids shape up. Since there are four, three-team gold pools, bids won’t be known on Day 2 like there were in some divisions at Big South and Lone Star this past weekend. It’s going to take a big-time effort from someone without a bid to qualify here. MAVS KC 16-1 and HJV 16 Elite are two of the top candidates. They share the same Day 1 pool, which features five teams. The Puerto Rican team Vaqueras 16-1 could be one to watch, assuming it would accept its bid if in a position to.
Prediction: The pick to win it all is NKYVC, which tops TAV in the final. As for the bids, we are picking just two going out to MAVS and HJV.
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15 OPEN
Number of Teams: 31
Number of Bids: 3
Teams With Bids (5): TAV 15 Black; AJV 15 Adidas; GP 15 Rox; HPSTL 15 Royal; Northern Lights 15-1
Outlook: With five qualified teams in the field, we know all three bids are going to go out. With the format having two, four-team gold pools it could be possible to know the bid winners before gold pool starts if all five qualified teams get that far. Some seeding to pay attention involves qualified GP and HPSTL. GP is seeded No. 5 overall but finished tied for ninth at Big South. Meanwhile, HPSTL is seeded No. 10 overall as the No. 2 team in Pool 7 behind Triangle 15 Black, the No. 7 overall seed. HPSTL finished runner up at Big South last weekend while Triangle didn’t make the gold pools. HPSTL is playing its third consecutive weekend at a qualifier. HPSTL earned its bid at Show Me before taking second at Big South. TAV – which tied for fifth with AJV last weekend at Lone Star – is the No. 1 seed. Surfside PV 15 Legends is the No. 2 team. It’s only the second qualifier of the year for Surfside, which failed to make the gold pools at PNQ. There’s a handful of strong candidates who could qualify in Philly. Surfside is certainly one of them. So is MAVS KC 15-1. Others to pay attention to include Triangle, Metro 15 Travel, Rockwood Thunder 15 Elite and Boiler Jrs 15 Gold. Boiler is looking to bounce back after a tough showing at Show Me where it didn’t make it past Day 1. But Boiler did make the gold pools at MEQ.
Prediction: The pick is for AJV to win it all, beating Surfside in the final. Surfside qualifies, along with MAVS and Rockwood Thunder.
