Charlotte and Kansas City survive first elimination games in play-in bracket

Chaser Riley Usami celebrates during a stoppage as the Kansas City Stampede took on the Minneapolis Monarchs earlier in the morning.

The Charlotte Aviators and the Kansas City Stampede survived their first elimination games in the play-in bracket with wins over the New Orleans Curse and the Detroit Innovators, respectively. Charlotte weathered a close call against the Curse, prevailing 135-110 thanks to a timely flag runner catch by US National Team seeker Ryan Davis. Kansas City, the closest team to the tournament in West Des Moines, Iowa, defeated Detroit in more convincing fashion, 210-90.

Outside on Pitch Two, the shooting of chasers Charlton Tramel and Ben Mertens helped New Orleans hang with Charlotte before the 20-minute mark. The defensive seeking of Sarah Yanofsky even gave the Curse the chance to briefly take a two-goal lead and pull within four goals of the set score. But as Charlotte’s esteemed beater corps established a bubble around the flag runner, Davis found their way through traffic and made a spectacular flying grab. Lifted by their league-leading seeker, the Aviators shut the door for the Curse with three quick goals to reach the set score.

Inside on Pitch One, Kansas City outpaced Detroit in a frenetic high-scoring affair. A pair of program veterans, chaser Sena Morimoto and beater Vincent Reyes, helped to settle their teammates and lead the way for the Stampede, who went on a 50-10 run and a 60-10 run before the 20-minute mark. Chaser Gwen Pratt, one of the breakout stars of the summer, had an impressive showing for the Innovators, including a highlight reel juke on Morimoto before flag runner on pitch.

With the wins, Charlotte and Kansas City advance to play each other at 1:15 pm with a spot in the second play-in bracket finals against the Boston Forge at 2:30 pm on the line. New Orleans and Detroit were eliminated.