Are Greenwich Favorites in the North Division?

 

Men’s North Division play gets under way this Saturday when Greenwich takes on Newport. I expect this division to be tightly contested. The North is stockpiled with talent, and each team heads into the weeks ahead hungry for playoff squash. 

Lake Erie is coming off a 2-0 2025 regular season and retained their entire core of Victor Crouin, Yannick Wilhelmi, Bernat Jaume, and Nick Spizziri. I also really like late-round additions David Baillargeon and Ben Smith, both of whom are expected to play in the Beacons’ first match on April 17th. Newport has a sneaky strong squad as well. They had a +24 point differential last year, aided by strong depth pieces in Yahya Elnawasany, Finnlay Withington, and Abdelrahman Nassar who they kept. Newport did some shuffling at the top, however. New to the team are Timmy Brownell and Matias Knudsen, both shotmakers as NSL-seasoned as they come. 

 

Going off last year’s performance, Greenwich is the underdog. They went 0-2, albeit in a different division. They lost to the Philadelphia Lightning and the New York Knights in the East Division. However, I’ll take the Panthers to win the North. Why? The short answer is talent. The Panthers have managed to build an incredible roster, headlined by none other than World #1 Mostafa Asal. 

 

As an expansion team in 2025, the Panthers had the first overall pick in a draft where Mostafa Asal was available. So, luck was involved in their roster building to be sure. But, that doesn’t give Greenwich their due credit for finding gems on the margins. 

I want to highlight two other players: current World #16 Dimitri Steinmann, and current World #17 Greg Marche. Steinmann was the last pick in the fourth round. He fell to Greenwich presumably due to availability concerns, yet he was arguably the face of the Panthers franchise in year one! Steinmann was probably the steal of that 2025 draft. Marche, meanwhile, is a new addition to the squad who was drafted in the second round after Chicago made him available. Why am I not highlighting anyone else on the roster right now? Because no one else is slated to play!

 

You read that right. The Panthers’ strongest lineup of Asal, Steinmann, and Marche are available for BOTH regular season matches. This is likely the most talented lineup in NSL history, and Greenwich has it at their disposal for 100% of their regular season. 

 

Greenwich’s power lineup will be difficult for the rest of the North Division to contend with. However, we can’t hand over the North to them without playing the games. For instance, Greenwich had both Asal and Steinmann in their 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Lightning last year. The now-retired Mark Broekman rounded out the Greenwich lineup, which is a little different from a third top-20 talent in Marche. But, the point still remains: having a talented roster doesn’t automatically win you games. 

 

That said, Greenwich clearly underperformed last year. They were at a talent deficit in the New York Knights match due to lack of player availability. Then, they ran into the eventual champion Lightning while playing a clearly injured Mostafa Asal. The 2026 season promises to be different. Their top lineup is healthy and ready to go, and coach Cameron Pilley brings far more experience in the format in year two, having played in the Legends Exhibition Match last October. 

 

Greenwich has all the ingredients to have a worst-to-first turnaround season. Can they get off to a hot start in Newport on Saturday? You’ll have to tune in to find out.