Two weeks after an exciting finish in Hamilton, OH, the NDA continued its tour to Lancaster, PA. While this tournament was the smallest of the season with only five teams in attendance, intrigue remained high given all teams sought their first tournament win of the year. The event featured the Angel City Vipers, Baltimore Blue Crabs, Bull Run Bullets, Toledo Lake Monsters, and Virginia Venom. This presented a relatively unique opportunity. With all teams in attendance being able to play each other in a true round-robin format, the setup was perfect to leave with an undisputed champion for the weekend.
Angel City Vipers came into the event seemingly with a lot of confidence, as evidenced by their social media activity. Brady and Zach Eck joined the squad as free agents for the weekend, which ended up providing a significant boost for the team.
For the Baltimore Blue Crabs, it was their first appearance of the 2025 season after what was considered a relatively breakout year in the season prior. They came into the weekend as arguably the biggest mystery in terms of what to expect from their performance.
Bull Run Bullets has been a team with a lot of eyeballs on them. Their core unit features a lot of talented individuals who played at one of the premier programs of the NCDA in JMU. Many people were interested in seeing how they’d continue their progression in their first NDA season.
Arguably the most ‘experienced’ group in Lancaster, Toledo Lake Monsters led all teams in tournament appearances for the season. While they were without their full squad, they did still have notable members with them such as Jack Price and Ronnie Thompson.
Ultimately, Virginia Venom came into the day as relative favorites, but without the presence of veteran Matt Bosco, it was not going to be a cake walk for them. Still, they had enough firepower on hand to justify themselves as the top team entering the tournament.
The day started off with some solid play from both Lake Monsters and Bullets resulting in a 2-2 draw. Bullets were able to jump out to an early lead but some methodical play from Lake Monsters, including some timely catches, helped keep the score even. Lake Monsters then found themselves involved with yet another 2-2 draw, this time to Vipers. At the same time, Venom was able to get an early lead on Blue Crabs and hold strong with a 4-1 victory and the first win of the day. Blue Crabs then earned some redemption, defeating Vipers 3-1 thanks to some impressive play from Connor Engel and Adam Butz.
Bullets and Venom was arguably expected to be the match of the day, and potentially a preview of the tournament championship as well. There was no love lost between these two squads with plenty of chirping back and forth to compliment some back and forth play. Trent Shaffer was a stand out for the Bullets during this match making some important throws to take out key players on Venom. On the other side, Venom got some momentum thanks in part to RJ Morgan, who has been nothing short of a spark plug for his team all year. Once the dust settled it was another 2-2 draw, a recurring theme throughout the weekend.
As mentioned, 2-2 was a popular score for the day, which is what happened in Bullets’ next match against Vipers. Bullets seemed poised to take this one, but thanks in no small part to some crucial catches from Khacy Evans and some clutch kills from Brady Eck, Vipers were able to walk away with a point. Blue Crabs followed up their earlier win against Vipers with a strong showing against Lake Monsters, winning 4-0.
With only three matches remaining in round robin play, the playoff picture was starting to clear up. Venom had control of their destiny, but would need two outright victories in order to guarantee the 1 seed. Blue Crabs only needed a draw in their final match to lock up at least a 2 seed and guarantee a spot in the championship. Both teams were able to get what they were looking for. Venom beat Lake Monsters and Vipers in back-to-back matches 2-1 and 3-1, respectively. At the same time, Blue Crabs held onto a 2-1 victory over Bullets, setting the stage for a showdown between Blue Crabs and Venom in the championship.
This championship ended up being arguably one of the best games of the season. Venom came out strong in the first point of the match and took a decisive 1-0 lead. Blue Crabs fought back hard and won the next point to tie it up, but in the waning moments of the first half Venom was able to regroup and took a 2-1 lead at halftime. Venom saw some great play from RJ Morgan and Kenji McCartney in the first half, and their efforts were crucial to get that lead.
Blue Crabs came out of halftime with a fire under them, and won the first point of the second half in less than three minutes to tie the match up 2-2. Venom looked like they were on the verge of taking the lead back in the next point carrying a 4-2 player advantage, but a clutch catch on a team throw evened out the player count. Perhaps more importantly, it also brought back Engel for Blue Crabs who had been one of the top performers of the tournament thus far. After a bit of a back and forth lull, Blue Crabs was able to break through and take a 3-2 lead with only 9:28 to go.
Venom picked up the pace and was able to even things up once again after a quick three minute point. Wayne Shortt and Ike Fleckenstein both propelled Venom during the point, being responsible for 5 kills. With 6:53 left in a 3-3 match, it was possible we were looking at the final point to decide the tournament winner. However, Blue Crabs stepped on the gas hard and was able to take out half of Venom’s squad on the opening rush. With a significant player and ball advantage, they took the point in seemingly dominating fashion and had a 4-3 lead. It was do-or-die time for Venom.
Thankfully for them, it was more ‘do’ than ‘die’. Kenji McCartney and Justin Tokes were able to provide a great spark on the opening rush, with both of them helping take out members of the Blue Crabs. Following that was methodical but decisive gameplay from Venom, who ultimately secured a point late in the second half to tie things up at 4 and send the match into overtime.
It all came down to one final point. Each team’s best lined up in what could only be described as the textbook definition of a winner-take-all format. Both teams were able to trade blows early, leaving only three players for both sides. Venom was able to break through with a kill, which then cascaded into two more to take home the medals in Lancaster.
New this year, the NDA will be awarding an All-Tournament Team, featuring 8 standout players to highlight their performance at each event. The Executive Board along with feedback from all the attending teams’ captains will craft the list of the 8 players consistent with the caliber of excellence exhibited throughout the tournament. The following 8 players are the All-Tournament Team for NDA Lancaster 2025.
