Photo by Kevin Leclaire – UltiPhotos.com

JULY 13, 2026
By Will Stuntz

Heading into the 2026 season, the DC Breeze were forced to rebuild and shape a new identity. Most professional sports teams that lose three of their top players and enter the season with a first-year head coach aren’t expected to succeed as they have in the past. But that couldn’t be further from the truth for the Breeze, as they now sit at 8-3 with their only losses coming from top-five teams (Boston and New York), and they’ve notched two wins against top-five teams, as well (New York and Carolina). 

In a year where the top teams in the East were loading up on talent with Boston signing DC’s Rowan McDonnell and Thomas Edmonds, and New York bringing in offensive stars like Alex Atkins and Daan De Marée, first-year head coach Xavier Maxstadt had a lot of work to do. But with the signing of Sean Mott, continued success from long-time Breeze veterans like AJ Merriman, Jeff Wodatch, and Christian Boxley, paired with a group of young players that have exceeded all expectations, the Breeze are primed to make another deep playoff run, having now clinched their 10th-consecutive berth. Not to mention that they are still in contention for the accolade that has eluded this successful franchise since its dawn: an Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) championship.

Through nine games in 2025, the Breeze were 5-4, with only one true dominant performance to speak of in their 23-15 win over the New York Empire last June. In their first nine games in 2026, the revamped offensive structure has been succeeding, and the defense is showing incredible ability to score on turns. The Breeze are blowing second-rate teams out of the water and winning against top teams in the league.

Head Coach Maxstadt entered 2026 with a new vision for the offense. He wanted to show off his handlers' throwing capabilities and take more deep shots than they have in recent seasons. Through all of 2025, the Breeze only took 64 huck attempts, and through only ten games in 2026, they surpassed that margin with 74. 

“The deep game was underdeveloped, and we weren’t throwing a lot of hucks,” Maxstadt said prior to the season. “With our division being the way that it is, we kind of need to be really good, so that's been a big focus point.”

The deep game is primarily run through players like Jacques Nissen, Miles Grovic, Merriman, and the newly-signed Mott. With Grovic and Nissen completing over 75% of their huck attempts, they’ve shown that they can connect on their deep shots at a high clip. 

“We’ve been trying to push people to expand their comfort zones a little bit on what throws they’re willing to do,” Maxstadt said. “We brought Miles and AJ over to our O-line. We have Sean Mott, and all three of them are very good deep throwers.”

The deep game, paired with the defense's ability to score on breaks has made the Breeze as dynamic a team as ever. The Breeze are converting just over 60% of their D-line chances, the seventh-best rate in the league this year. The D-line's scoring capabilities are one of the biggest reasons that DC has been able to operate when down after the first and second periods. They’ve mounted some incredible comeback victories, most notably when they beat the Carolina Flyers after trailing 8-6 in the first period and when they beat the Empire after trailing 12-10 at half. And of course, the dominant fourth quarter performance in Montreal when the Breeze outscored the Royal 6-0 in the final stanza to win by six scores after trailing 7-4 in the first period. 

“The D-line's done a great job of making adjustments,” Nissen said. “And once we get rolling, we’re hard to stop, and I think we play our best offense late in games.” 

Without these crucial comeback victories, the Breeze’s record could be 4-7 right now, and there wouldn’t even be a chance at the playoffs for a team that hasn’t missed the postseason in nine years. 

The Breeze season didn’t start as successfully as it has been with their first game of the season resulting in a 21-16 loss to the reigning UFA champions Boston Glory. However, they quickly got things back on track with a 20-18 victory over the Royal then mounted that comeback victory over New York in an instant overtime classic. That moment will be remembered in the frisbee world for years to come, as New York controlled their own destiny, and all they had to do was find one more hold, or let the clock run out to go to a second overtime. Instead, Empire veteran John Randolph threw what may go down as the worst pass of his career, which fell right into the hands of Breeze rookie Wiebe van den Brink in New York’s red zone. All it took was one backhand pass from van den Brink to the end zone for Luke Rehfuss, who leaped to make the game-winning grab with no time left. 

“I got the disc, and I was aware that the clock was about to run down,” van den Brink said. “Luke made it really easy for me.” 

Following that road trip to New York, the Breeze returned home for their first-ever bout with the Colorado Apex and won 32-16. This win was a historic victory for the Breeze, as they hadn’t beaten a team by that margin since June of 2016 when they traveled to Philadelphia and beat the Phoenix 34-18. The excitement from the victory didn’t last long, as one week later, DC dropped its second game of the season when New York came to town, and it was clear they still weren’t happy with how the last game went down. New York played angry, and the heated rivalry was on full display with multiple players in the match receiving technical fouls for extracurricular activities. Atkins was on fire, and the newly-signed Empire member totaled 570 yards, threw four assists and caught two goals, while completing 97% of his throws. His performance led New York to an 18-14 victory. 

The Breeze quickly got back on track with two statement wins on back-to-back nights on their Canadian road trip. They started off with a signature comeback win against Toronto, who led the Breeze 7-4 in the first quarter. However, a hot cutting night from Theo Shapinsky and a ton of late break conversions saw the Breeze win 23-18. The next night was the monstrous fourth quarter performance that led to their second win over Montreal this season. Grovic had the game of his career that night, tossing nine assists and picking up 595 yards, while going 3-of-4 on hucks. 

Then came the Flyers but without Allan Laviollete. DC wasn’t at full strength either, as Merriman sustained an injury against Toronto and was missing his second week in a row. The Breeze defense took advantage of 75% of their D-line opportunities, and despite trailing early, DC notched a win over one of their toughest opponents on the 2026 docket. 

Then it was time for a rematch with Boston, and the Breeze were still missing Merriman. However, Boston was without Jeff Babbitt and a slew of other players, and Glory were coming off of a game with the Empire the night before. Those facts, paired with Tobe Decraene slowing down in the prior weeks looked like the perfect storm for the Breeze to pull off the upset. But, five assists, seven goals and 798 yards from Decraene later, the Breeze were routed by nine in their worst loss of the season so far.

Two bye weeks for the Breeze later, they entered the final three-game stretch, starting with games against the Philadelphia Phoenix (1-8) in back-to-back weekends, and Maxstadt was feeling good heading into those matchups. 

“I feel very confident, because I want our whole team to feel confident,” Maxstadt said. “I think overall we match up with them pretty well.”

Maxstadt tasked his squad to find the same energy to begin games that they've been finding to close them out. Unfortunately, it was more of the same in the first matchup with the Hotbirds on the road in Delaware County, Pa. Despite a slow start and falling behind by a couple goals, the Breeze found their rhythm and came away with the four-goal victory. The DC squad finally took Maxstadt's message to heart and jumped out to a five-goal lead to begin the rematch with Philly in the nation's capital, ensuring the score never got closer than a two-goal margin. The victory improved DC's record to 8-3.

In week 13, the Breeze will take one last road trip to Atlanta to end their season with a match against the Atlanta Hustle (5-6). The Hustle have been eliminated from the South Division playoff race, and the Breeze have locked up the third seed in the East, so any victory in the Peach State will be a moral one for either team. The Hustle are probably one of the best teams in the league that aren’t above a .500 record, and they’ve shown they can beat top teams with their victory over the Flyers and a couple close contests with the Austin Sol (9-1). 

“I think it’s always fun to play a team that we don’t play often,” Maxstadt said. “With a little bit of a different set of strategies from both teams [compared to last time around], I think it’s going to be pretty exciting."

As it stands, the Breeze control their own destiny as the third seed in the East and will most likely be traveling to New York for the first round of the playoffs for what would be their third bout with the Empire in 2026. There is a scenario in which Boston loses their final game to Montreal and New York wins theirs over Philadelphia that would allow the Empire to jump into the top spot in the East. 

“By the time we get to the playoffs, we won’t have seen New York for a bit,” Nissen said. “So we’re ready to see a different version of them [with De Marée], but we also know that we’ll be the best version of ourselves.” 

The Breeze are starting to get healthy; Merriman is back, as well as Jasper Tom, who notched five goals in his 2026 debut against Philadelphia. Van den Brink will be back from the Netherlands, and Aidan Downey is expected to return in the coming weeks, as well. All four of those guys add a lot of talent for the Breeze on both sides of the disc, and it couldn’t be timed better with the postseason looming in the coming weeks. 

Catch all of the remaining games of the 2026 DC Breeze season at watchUFA.tv.