April 18, 2018
Owen Krucoff
The 2018 season will mark the fifth anniversary of the DC Breeze. To mark the occasion, we’re taking a look at a few different top fives from the team’s history and letting the fans decide which choice should go down as the all-time best! Today’s topic is the top five games. From the first win in team history to a big upset victory on national TV, the list is loaded with memorable moments. Read about the top five below and decide what you think has been the best game in the first five years of the Breeze!
April 28, 2013 vs Rochester Dragons
In the second week of the Breeze’s inaugural season, D.C. took on Rochester at Anacostia High School. The back-and-forth contest went into sudden death double overtime, where the Breeze edged the Dragons for a 26-25 victory, entering the win column for the first time in team history. An Evan Feeney huck to Justin Solis clinched the victory after each team turned the disc over once during the deciding point. The Breeze have gone on to amass 43 wins across five seasons, but it all started with this triumph over Rochester.
June 28, 2014 at Montreal Royal
This 29-20 win marked the Breeze’s first appearance on the AUDL Game of the Week and clinched the team’s first ever playoff spot. The Breeze traveled to Quebec without two of their leading players, Tyler DeGirolamo and Alex Thorne, but never trailed after tying it at 1s to start the contest.
Brad Scott, who had four Ds and three goals, and Brett Matzuka, who finished with six assists, led D.C.’s winning effort on the national stage. The playoff berth, besides being the first in team history, also solidified what had already been a remarkable team turnaround after a 4-12 inaugural season in 2013.
June 4, 2016 vs Toronto Rush
For the first three Breeze seasons, the Toronto Rush had a chokehold over both D.C. and the East Division, holding an 8-0 record against the Breeze and winning every division title. Add in Toronto’s two one-point wins over D.C. from earlier in the season, and history stood even more clearly on the visitors’ side entering this Saturday night matchup. But the Breeze finally turned the tables on the Rush, winning 28-23 and setting into motion what has now become three straight home wins over Toronto.
The Breeze never trailed in the game, and never relinquished the lead after going up 8-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Wodatch led D.C. with seven goals and a +8 plus-minus. In many ways, this victory announced D.C.’s arrival in the upper echelon of the East, as the Breeze and Rush have been the two consistently best teams in the division since 2016.
July 16, 2016 vs New York Empire
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was on hand to witness the Breeze’s first ever home playoff game, a 24-20 win over New York. After the Breeze won all three regular season meetings between the two teams in one-point thrillers, another close contest was expected with a spot in the division final at stake. The opposite appeared to be the case when the Breeze jumped out to a 17-11 third quarter lead, but the visitors roared back to cut their deficit to 18-16.
A fourth quarter push from the Breeze put the game away, culminating in a Chuck Cantone callahan to put D.C. up 24-18. Another highlight included an Alan Kolick layout goal in the second quarter that reached #5 on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10. The Breeze’s home playoff debut was a success.
April 9, 2017 vs Toronto Rush
The Breeze’s 2017 season opener represented an AUDL milestone as the first ever pro ultimate game to be broadcast on national television thanks to a brand new partnership with Eleven Sports Network. And the home team did not disappoint. It would become D.C.’s biggest win to date over the Rush, a 32-21 blowout victory. With Mayor Muriel Bowser on hand once again, the Breeze established themselves as a surefire threat to Toronto’s East Division supremacy as they proved their mettle in front of the national TV audience.
After a relatively close first half, the Breeze outscored Toronto 16-9 in the second half. Tyler Monroe led the team with 7 goals and a +11 plus-minus, while also contributing 4 assists. Although Toronto may have been weakened playing on the second half of a two-game weekend road trip, the loss still stands as the most lopsided in their team’s history. The fact that this same Rush team made it all the way to within one point of winning the AUDL Championship last August makes this Breeze victory — and by such a wide margin — all the more memorable.
