It is one thing to find yourself with the disc in the end zone, but equally important is the throw that got the disc to you. Unlike in soccer and hockey, each and every goal scored in the AUDL also gets an offensive assist…. well, at least 99+ percent of the time — there is that rare Callahan when the opposing team gets the dreaded defensive ‘assist.’
There are a lot of parallels between the 2017 DC Breeze squad and the one from 2016. In addition to having the same record and ending the season in a similar fashion, the team scored virtually the same number of goals. D.C. had 392 this past season and 396 in 2016, a franchise high.
The 2017 DC Breeze season finished in a very similar fashion to the previous year. With a 10-4 record, the team claimed the No. 2 seed in the East Division Playoffs. After winning their hard earned home playoff game, the Breeze moved on to play division winners Toronto Rush, and for the second straight year they lost to the Rush in the Division Final.
During a season in which consistency from week-to-week was one of the biggest issues for the DC Breeze, one player was a permanent fixture on the roster. AUDL Rookie David Bloodgood has been awarded as the Breeze’s only recipient of the AUDL’s Steel Spirit Award for the 2017 season for appearing in every regular season game.
Nothing compares to DC Breeze fans, and their impact on our team is significant. Dating back to 2016, the squad is on a 14-game home winning streak. This is the longest active home winning streak in the AUDL by a wide margin.
This past weekend was a tale of the entire 2017 season for the DC Breeze. A dominant offensive unit that is nearly unstoppable at home, and a team that struggles to piece together consistency on the road. The conditions and the outcomes were polar opposites in the two playoff games over the weekend.
In Toronto, Canada everything was different for the DC Breeze compared to their match-up on Friday evening. No rain, only a slight breeze, near perfect conditions. The biggest difference was the result. Using an imposing defense, the Toronto Rush dismantled the offensive line for DC, winning 29-26 at Varsity Stadium.
DC Breeze at Toronto Rush
Sunday August 13, 1pm ET — audl.tv/live
Ever since the end of the 2016 season, there has been one goal on the mind of DC Breeze players: take the division from the Toronto Rush. The Breeze will get that chance Sunday at 1:00pm ET when they once again take on Toronto with the East Division title in the balance.
As in every sport, the level of play in the AUDL intensifies in the playoffs. With a trip to the Eastern Division final on the line, hostile weather conditions were simply ignored at Hotchkiss Field. The rain was unrelenting, a two and a half hour lightning delay started 27 seconds into the game(!), and it was a Friday night after many players endured either work or a 10+ hour drive. In the…
Only one team in the East Division won their season series against the DC Breeze during the 2017 campaign. The Montréal Royal bested the Breeze by a one-goal margin after both teams won their home contest. In fact, that one loss in Montréal ended up being the determining factor for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
