May 7, 2026
By Alex Rubin

For the second straight week, "Friday Night Frisbee" will broadcast from New York. This week, the game will take place on Sunday afternoon in a Mother’s Day special when the DC Breeze travel north to take on the Empire. 

These two teams have a fierce rivalry and always seem to play each other close regardless of their record. Last season the teams split their regular season matchups, with DC winning the playoff tiebreaker. This will be their first matchup of the season as DC looks to continue their momentum in the matchup. Since their founding in 2013, including playoffs, New York leads the series 20-17.

Last week we saw New York crush the Toronto Rush by nine goals. Though it is a small sample size, the Empire are living up to their pre-season expectations as one of the best teams in the league. They are averaging the fewest turnovers per game of any team in the league, and their O-line personnel saw just one single turnover last week, an unfortunate Jacob Cowan drop on an open huck.

If the Empire are able to continue to facilitate offense with both lines as easy as they could last week, they will be nearly impossible to stop. Alex Atkins fit in perfectly as the primary thrower on the O-line. His +7 day (5A/2G/0T) tied for the team lead and he combined brilliantly with franchise legends Jack Williams and Ben Jagt as though he’d been playing with the team as long as they have. His towering 97 yard huck to Jagt was one of the UFA’s plays of the week last week, and surely there is more to come from this star duo.

DC sits at 1-1 after a close win against the Montreal Royal last week, and a five-goal loss to Boston the week before. In their first game of the season, the Breeze struggled to dispossess Boston, generating just four break opportunities in the entire game. While the team converted three of them, their defense will need to step up to compete against an equally strong New York offense. Last week, DC improved by generating 14 break opportunities, thanks in large part to the heroics of Charlie McCutcheon and his four blocks.

If their defense can continue their improvement, DC certainly has a chance against New York, but as their offense continues to evolve, some improvement may be needed on that side of the disc too. Over the last few seasons, DC’s attack was built around limiting turnovers. Since 2021, the Breeze have finished in the top four in completion percentage every year. With Jonny Malks and Rowan McDonnell leading the charge, the Breeze crafted a whole identity around patient, always-open offense. 

Without those two in the fold, along with an injury to Rowan McDonnell, the Breeze have had to figure out their offense on the fly. Sean Mott and AJ Merriman have both been dynamic additions to the Breeze, but their style is vastly different from their predecessors. For a quick comparison, DC now sits 11th in completion percentage out of the 19 teams who have played so far. 

While it would not be fair to insist that current Breeze players take on strategies that worked in the past with different personnel, the Breeze are still figuring out how to create a distinct offensive identity. Against the stingy New York defense, they’ll need to figure it out fast.

The answer might be to lean into their athleticism. Though the Empire can trot out a line of some of the most capable defenders in the league, Christian Boxley, Merriman, and Miles Grovic have proven time and time again that they have what it takes to get open and lead an offense. With Andrew Roy, Jacques Nissen, and Mott holding steady in the backfield, the Breeze have all the tools they need to be successful and let the downfield playmakers shine. The Empire are known for pressuring opposing handler sets. If the Breeze can quickly get the disc downfield early in the stall count, they should be able to consistently hold and give themselves a chance to win, despite coming in as a slight underdog.