Breeze cannot close out Rochester

This past weekend on May 25 the Breeze hosted the Rochester Dragons for their second meeting. The Breeze looked good off of the first pull where  a huge huck to score came in the game’s first 20 seconds. The Dragons would go up two breaks in the first quarter and close it 3-5.

The Breeze really only had one good chance to get a break in the first quarter,but retreated on swings and got point blocked near their own goal line; giving Rochester a short field and easy opportunity to score.

The second quarter was full of throw aways and drops due to the windy conditions. Despite the conditions the Breeze got some flow going and put themselves back into the game outscoring Rochester 4 to 2.  The last 3 of those 4 points came on back to back, to back breaks.

DC had trapped Rochester on their own goal line around 0:30, down by one. The Breeze had  been using a two man double team to force a lot a bad throws off the sidelines in the wind and got another clutch take away on a high and floaty swing. This set up an easy gainer to tie it up at 7’s with 0:17 remaining.

It has come to be the norm that the winds are a huge factor in the Breeze games at Willie Stewart stadium. While at home, the Breeze have shown more confidence and and success while throwing in the wind and this game was no different. Throughout the first half Rochester had more of their throws fly out of the reach of their cutters due to the wind. While DC had more accuracy with their throws, their cutter’s had more drops. With the momentum swinging towards DC at the end of the first half it seemed clear that DC would be able to move ahead in the third.

The first two points of the third quarter were on serve and not even a minute had run off the clock yet. Then a marathon point lasting over five minutes spawned out of countless throwaways and drops from both teams.

Rochester was set to score at 6:20 with the disc on the Breeze’s goal line, but a incredible block gave the Breeze another chance. The intended receiver, Rochester’s number 88 Rob Smith, felt he had been fouled on the play and got into an argument with the official (block captured below). This resulted in a 20 yard penalty and caught the still transitioning Rochester defense by surprise. A power position, 50 yard backhand huck was kept alive by the same winds that had been haunting the deep game all day; allowing the Breeze to reclaim the lead 9-8 at 6:07. This was DC’s second lead of the game since going up 2-1. The third quarter finished on serve with the breeze up 11-10.

Photo by Pete Guion for UltiPhotos.com.

While Rochester had led the first half in throwaways and DC in drops the second half saw a complete reversal; now it was the open Rochester receivers dropping the disc and the Breeze handler’s who were losing throws to the wind and making some poor throwing decisions.

The Breeze defensive line began dabbling with some zone in the fourth quarter and were able to set up their sideline trap. Turn after turn came from this set up with a lot of throw’s coming from the Dragon’s number 10, Sean Donnellan. The Breeze would go up for the last time at 10:30 remaining, 12-11. The last tie of the game came on a DC break to make it 13’s with 5:43 left.

Back to back Rochester breaks on two forced turnovers would seal the game, comfortably up 3 with 2 minutes to go. DC  would score with just under a minute remaining, and had plenty of time to take the deep shots that had been working for them (4/5 on 40+ yard throws), but  they could not get any open in cuts as the clock was expiring. Rochester’s win evened the series at one apiece with a final score of 14-16.

DC had won the turnover battle with 29 drops and throwaways to the Dragon's 32, but failed to capitalize on that advantage. That and some poor decisions late in the fourth quarter cost them the match up.

Military Day at The Stew

 

As we salute our troops and veterans abroad and domestic on Memorial Day, DC Breeze is hosting Military Day at The Stew this Saturday, May 25, 1pm. Join us!

Active duty & reserve service members and their families are free with a military ID, including wounded warriors. The fan with the most patriotic outfit wins two tickets to our next home game!!

Don't miss the action against the Rochester Dragons! Use promo code FREEDOM to get $3 off. A portion of the discount goes to VetTix, a partner of DC Breeze; visit vettix.org for more information.

Nike camp through the DC Breeze to bring exposure to Ultimate

Breeze fans did you know that the team is running a Nike sponsored Ultimate camp this summer?

There are camps being run all around the country this summer. The kids of the east coast are fortunate to have several opportunities to come out and learn the game from north to south. There are day and sleep away camps planned for New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Maryland.

The Breeze will be hosting High School students ages 13 to 18 at Bible College in Lanham, MD from June 24 to 28. The camp is part of the Breeze’s mission to expand the popularity of Ultimate while also trying to give back to their community. This time in the form of game skills.

Ultimate players from the DC Breeze, Truck Stop and George Mason University will be coaching kids on everything from the basic fundamentals of throwing to the ins and outs of the game. The staff plans to ensure the campers walk away with meaningful instruction and an improved playing ability, regardless of prior experience.

The Ultimate community has been seeing  a lot of promotion and publicity over the past year. Cloud Coverage believes though it is the Nike Camps that are going to have the largest impact on expanding the presence of Ultimate, especially in terms of number of players.

Online streams, professional leagues, broadcasting contracts and top 10 rankings are all huge advancements for a sport that for so long has been under the radar. However, by going out and providing in person education, training and organized opportunities to play; the ripple effects are bound to be huge. It is a grass root movement at its very essence, unless the camps are held on a turf field.

Kids may see a highlight on TV or hear a feature about their local pro team over the radio, but these things only provide an inch deep look into Ultimate. Camps put discs in their hands and cleats on their feet. Camps provide an environment focused on learning and comprehension, not competition or performance. Recreational leagues and club teams are good, but can be intimidating to a kid without a clue of what the game even is.

The numbers for the first year of camps may be low compared to the number of kids that turn out for soccer or basketball camps. This is still a huge improvement over how many kids were attending Nike Ultimate camps last year (0). The success of these camps now is going to play a huge impact in the kind of skill we will see in college, club and pro players 4, 5 or even 10 years from now. Who knows? Maybe in a few years we will have some star handler or cutter on the Breeze whose first serious take at Ultimate came from one of these camps.

Mother's Day win

The DC Breeze won their first match-up against the New Jersey Hammerheads on Mother’s Day, May 12. Both teams entered with a 1-3 record. New Jersey was scheduled to have played Philadelphia the day before, but the game was called due to weather; meaning a more rested team than DC was expecting.

A gusty day at Willie Stewart Stadium didn’t prove to be much of a challenge to the Breeze who came out on offense and took three breaks to start a 4-0 run. The Hammerheads had a cold start in the wind and had a lot of easy drops that turned into a hole they would not escape. After coming down with a big huck to Matthew Tacheron, he found Jibran Mieser open in the end zone to get on the board 4-1 at the eight minute mark in the first.

Following that score came one of the longest points of the game. Spanning three and a half minutes and over six turnovers. The Breeze ran a zone and got the disc back and punched it in much to the Hammerhead’s dismay. Most of DC’s turnover on this point came from throws that were a little careless given the windy conditions. The first quarter would end with two more breaks from the Breeze  up a commanding 7-1.

The second quarter featured the same recipe from DC that put them up so much in the first place taking half 11-4. The tenacity the Breeze had was just not matched from the Hammerheads in the first half. They would come back firing on all cylinders later in the second half to come close as 14-10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Hammerheads came up with a lot of D’s as Breeze were putting up some iffy throws. This created a big momentum shift towards New Jersey that even the fan’s were picking up. The DC offensive line finally broke out of a rut in the fourth with  beautiful possession of up lines, in cuts and swings at 9:11 to go up 15-10.

The winds had picked up in the start of the second half but were not much of an issue in the end of the fourth. More deep shots were going up and staying on target. The Breeze started working the clock with three minutes left; and the Hammerheads could not get the fast points they needed. New Jersey had last pull at 1:44 and DC swung out the last few seconds to snag the 4th place spot in the East.

The wind really seemed to be a big factor for the Hammerheads. Drops early set them back and  a second half rally that, perhaps come not being down six,  could have taken the game under their control.

The Breeze were confident throwing in the wind and played with more desire to get the disc back on defense, forcing a lot of turnovers and capitalizing on Hammerhead throw aways. They play the 2-1 Philadelphia Phoenix at home on May 18.

Photo by Kevin Leclaire for Ultiphotos.com