By Noam Gumerman

The Carolina Flyers fell at home to the Atlanta Hustle Saturday night, 21-17, and were eliminated from playoff contention ahead of the final week of the 2025 UFA regular season. Carolina found themselves in a must-win game in their home finale, ahead of a two-game Texas road trip next weekend, with their playoff hopes on their last legs. They needed to win out, and end the season on an eight-game winning streak after starting the year 0-4 in order to make the playoffs, and they just ran out of gas.

This was the fourth meeting between Carolina and Atlanta, and these two bitter South Division rivals battled all night. Carolina looked set to even the season series at two games apiece halfway through the game, heading into the half up 10-9 and largely in control. It was a tight, efficient half for both teams on offense, with very few turnovers and only a couple breaks. 

But a disastrous 7-2 third quarter in favor of the Hustle doomed the Flyers. In the third, many of the problems from the first half of the season reared their ugly heads again for the Flyers. They struggled to move the disc down the field, gave their opponents multiple short field break opportunities, couldn’t generate significant defensive pressure, and when they did get a chance to break they couldn’t convert. In the blink of an eye the Flyers went from up 12-11 early in the third to down 16-12 at the end. And that momentum swing was too much to overturn.

There were moments in the fourth quarter where it felt like the Flyers showed signs of the life they’d had in the first half, but they couldn’t ever put it together across multiple points in a row. And to make matters worse, Allan Laviolette exited the game early after taking a blindside shot from a Hustle player despite another stellar performance with a team-high four assists, three goals, 310 yards, and no turnovers. Kevin Pignone and Rutledge Smith also had big games, with three assists and 423 yards, and four goals, one block, and 260 yards, respectively. 

The Flyers will close out their 2025 campaign with games against Houston and Austin this weekend.