A new division means plenty of new opponents. 

After competing in the West Division for the first nine years of the team’s existence, the Los Angeles Aviators are now in the South Division, which spans across the southern United States to include east coast teams like the Carolina Flyers and the Atlanta Hustle. The Aviators get their first chance against a cross-country opponent against Atlanta this weekend, hosting the Hustle this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Great Park Championship Stadium.

Head coach Jake Baumer’s squad finished its first weekend of play 0-2 against the San Diego Growlers, but with that experience under their belts, the Aviators are looking to turn things around against their new opponent.

“It's one opponent to the next,” Baumer said after Sunday’s game. “San Diego is a very good opponent …  Atlanta is going to be a completely different team with completely different kinds of things going on, so we are going to have to take some time this week to look at that and try to figure out how we're going to, more specifically as an offense, react to what their defense is going to do.”

The Hustle — who will play San Diego on Friday before heading up toward Los Angeles — currently sit at 1-0, after a thrilling 23-21 win over the Salt Lake Shred during the UFA opening weekend. After Salt Lake tied the game at 16-16 late in the third quarter, the Hustle secured back-to-back holds between the third and fourth quarters and never allowed the Shred to catch back up.

Atlanta had another game on the docket against Carolina but, while the Hustle were leading 8-7 late in the second quarter, “severe weather and lightning forced Saturday’s contest into a delay” and the game will continue where it left off on May 17, according to a league release.

With less than six full quarters of play under their belts, the Hustle create multiple unknowns for the Aviators heading into the weekend.

“That's just going to be tough, because there's going to be a good amount of film we can look at, but we just don't have the experience of playing them,” Baumer said. “We're gonna have that experience all season, because we've never played the Texas teams. … So it's just part of the learning curve for everybody, the players and the coaches.”

The Hustle have a balanced attack, with four different players scoring four goals across the first two games. Austin Taylor is a name to look out for this weekend, as he leads Atlanta with his eight assists and 63 completions.

Atlanta boasts lots of experience as its four leading goal scorers are, on average, in their ninth year in the league while their three leading assist throwers are in their sixth year in the UFA. That experience has helped take Atlanta to four straight winning seasons and back-to-back South Division titles.

Los Angeles is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with many of its leaders just starting their pro careers. While longtime pro Sean McDougall led the way this past weekend in goals, rookies Dox Raskin, Max Combs and Owen Shaff lit up the stat pages and combined for seven assists, three goals and 10 of the Aviators’ 19 blocks against the Growlers.

“Of our 20 rostered players [on Saturday], at least eight of them played in their first UFA game, and two more [on Sunday] played in their first game,” Baumer said. “No other team in the league is even close to that.” Even with the inexperience, the Aviators put up a fight against San Diego and are primed to do it again against the Hustle. With so many young players, Los Angeles can boast that it has the highest trajectory of nearly any team in the league as the young players get their feet wet. “Our young guys did a great job of just listening to the coaches, listening to the captains, hearing the adjustments and making it happen,” Baumer said. “And I think that only sets a tone for the rest of the year.”

Many of the young players are trying to adjust from the college game, changing parts of their play to adapt to the pros.“Everything here moves so much faster,” Raskin said after Sunday’s game. “The defense is so much better generally, then the field, the field is massive, which has its benefits and its downsides.”

The Aviators look to get one in the win column for the first time this season against the Hustle on Saturday. Join us at 6pm for the first pull on Teacher Appreciation Night where teachers get in free with their school ID. Follow the link to get your LA vs Atlanta tickets