June 10, 2025
By Evan Lepler
1. DC routs New York for third straight win in league's toughest rivalry
It was a close and competitive game through three quarters, but the DC Breeze steamrolled the Empire down the stretch, outscoring New York 8-2 to close out their 23-15 victory. The Breeze had just eight turns, half as many as their opponent, as they handed the Empire their worst loss in almost seven years.
“It was great to give the DC fans a game they’ve deserved for a while,” said Breeze veteran Thomas Edmonds. “As a unit, we are finally clicking offensively. We generated more clean holds, converted more breaks, and threw fewer turnovers compared to most of our games this season, and that’s a winning formula.”
Rowan McDonnell led the Breeze attack with eight assists, while Cole Jurek also had a strong night with six goals and a perfect 35-for-35 passing performance. Ben Jagt led the Empire with six goals and two blocks, but the New York attack went just 4-for-11 on hucks and converted fewer than 50 percent of their possessions.
Injuries continued to mount and sting New York, both from the team’s mid-week practice, when Calvin Brown went out with a concussion, and on the opening O-point on Friday night, when Oliver Chartock appeared to tweak a hamstring and did not return.
Whereas many of the Empire’s fill-in players struggled to make a notable impact, seemingly every single young DC addition made something positive happen.
“We were really excited to get a bunch of young guys rostered for a big game,” said Edmonds. “Coby [Loveranes] was great for us on offense, and we had huge defensive contributions from Micah [Wagner], Aidan [Downey], Ben [Greenberg], and Marcus [Lee]. It’s something that I love about DC. Every year, a new crop of very talented young guys show up at tryouts.”
Edmonds was also involved in one of the big plays of the game, when he skied over a crowd for an unlikely buzzer-beating score. Officials ruled the play in bounds and gave the Breeze a 16-13 lead heading to the fourth, though replays also appeared to show Edmonds failing to land in bounds.
“It’s unfortunate that such a cool play ended up being called incorrectly,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think we can call it mostly even because Miles [Grovic] did not foul Jack [Williams] on his sky. So, as with any UFA game—and sports in general—the refs miss calls. You just hope they miss them in a consistent manner that does not favor one team over the other.”
The Breeze and Empire will meet again this Saturday in New York.
2. Montreal destroys Philly
The Royal earned their third straight victory on Friday night against Philadelphia, simultaneously dealing the Phoenix their third straight loss in a surprising 29-20 blowout. The Phoenix, despite getting broken on three straight points to start the night, actually came back to lead 6-5 at the end of the first. But Montreal dominated the middle two quarters, outscoring Philly 17-7, as the Royal finished the night with their highest scoring performance since April 28, 2018, when they beat the now-defunct Ottawa Outlaws 35-33.
“It felt very good to finally win by a big margin,” said Montreal’s Christophe Tremblay-Joncas, who led the Royal with six assists, 755 total yards, and no turnovers. “I would say that my favorite stat of the night was that [11] players got one block. Every single player on our team contributed.”
Montreal was also historically efficient, going 19-for-19 in the red zone, 13-for-15 on break chances, and finishing with just eight turnovers, the fewest giveaways in a single game in franchise history.
3. Toronto destroys Montreal
One night after the team’s top possession-preserving performance in the Royal’s 135-game tenure in the UFA, Montreal could not sustain that efficiency against Toronto. Not even close.
“I definitely have mixed feelings about this weekend,” said Royal handler Jakob Brissette. “We showed how we are able to play on Friday against Philly, but we didn’t show up Saturday against Toronto.”
The Rush opened with three straight breaks, led 5-1 after seven and a half minutes, and never trailed in their convincing 28-18 victory. While the Royal narrowed the deficit down to one late in the second quarter, Toronto used a 7-1 spurt to break it open from there, before yet another 7-1 burst ensured the double-digit victory. It was the Rush’s first time beating the Royal by 10 or more since a 29-18 rout on July 2, 2016.
“Our D-line won us that game and put us in a super easy position to succeed,” said Rush handler Luc Comire. “All credit goes to them for grinding down Montreal, cause it felt super easy on O.”
Toronto, now winners of two straight, improved to 2-4, moving within a half-game of Montreal and Philly, who are currently tied for third place in the East at 3-4. Perhaps most notable about the Rush’s resurgence was the way they won on Saturday while missing some of their key players.
“[With] Marty [Gallant] out with the flu and Arvids [Karklins] unavailable, Keith [McRae] had to rise to the occasion in a huge way, contributing significantly with five goals,” said Rush Acting Head Coach Travis Puckrin. “That kind of depth and adaptability was exactly what we needed.”
Puckrin also emphasized that Toronto, even with a comfortable lead late in the game, kept on fighting with everything they had. It wasn’t necessarily because they wanted to run up the score on their rival, but instead a recognition that the East Division playoff race could come down to a scoring differential tiebreaker at the end of the season.
“Heading into the fourth quarter, one thought was paramount in my mind: the East is incredibly tight this year,” he said. “Every single point, every break we get, could be the difference between making the playoffs and being on the outside looking in. We had to keep that mindset every time we stepped on the field. Mark [Lloyd] was a great help off the field keeping the team focused until the very end.”
4. Boston powers past Philly to remain undefeated
The Phoenix scored at the buzzer in both of the first two quarters on Saturday night, with Sam Grossberg and Chase Rawlins each catching goals with no time left to keep Philly within two. But the Hotbirds’ magic ran out after halftime.
Boston, up 10-8 at the midway point, opened the third quarter with four straight breaks and outscored Philadelphia 12-6 through the final two periods in the Glory’s 22-14 victory, which lifted Boston to 5-0 on the season. The Phoenix, meanwhile, suffered their fourth consecutive loss after starting 3-0.
Tobe Decraene anchored the Glory offense with five goals, four assists, and 562 total yards, while Tannor Johnson-Go led the Boston D-line with three assists, one goal, one block, and 315 total yards, going 37-for-38 passing. Adam Grossberg and Sean Mott each had five scores for Philly, but the Phoenix D-line went just 1-for-5 on break chances, and the Phoenix converted only 5-of-11 hucks.
Philadelphia will look to get back to .500 with an interdivisional Week 8 date at Pittsburgh, while Boston heads north of the border for Saturday and Sunday showdowns against Montreal and Toronto, respectively.
5. Chicago stays perfect with impressive second half versus Madison
The Radicals hung tough with the Union for two and a half quarters on Sunday evening, but Chicago closed the game on a 7-2 run to prevail 21-16.
“In the first half, we were giving a lot of respect to their deep game and let them walk it down the field too easily,” said Chicago’s Ben Preiss, who led the Union with five scores on the night. “Once we committed to trusting our D and contesting their under cuts hard, we were able to take the disc away more consistently. I think our O also started finding some more flow by playing with tempo and in big space, which was made easier by finally having Paul [Arters], Daan [De Marree], and Nate Goff out there for their first game all together.”
Arters paced all participants with 482 total yards and four assists, while De Marree and Goff each caught a pair of goals and combined for 600 yards between them. Kai Marcus and Anthony Gutowsky led the Radicals offense with four assists and three goals, respectively, but Madison’s productivity and efficiency, which kept the game close for the first 32 minutes, tailed off dramatically in the final 16.
“While it’s frustrating that we couldn’t quite execute throughout the entire game, I think this was a great experience for us to have at this point in the season,” said Madison’s Ted Schewe, via Ryan Baker. “I think we can use this as a stepping stone to get where we want to be in August. We’ve seen the level we need to hit. We’ve shown that we can play at that level, and now we just need to show that we can stay there for all four quarters.”
While the Radicals host the reigning champion Wind Chill on "Friday Night Frisbee" before traveling to Detroit on Saturday, the Union have a single game at Indianapolis in Week 8. After that, they will play eight games in the final five weeks of their unorthodox regular season.
“I think the team is excited about the flurry of games we have coming up because this is a new group that’s still building chemistry, so more opportunities to improve will be good for us,” said Preiss.
6. Minnesota rolls to big home win over Pittsburgh
Jumping out to an 11-3 lead through the first 17 minutes, the Minnesota Wind Chill went up by as many as nine before prevailing 21-16 on Saturday night against Pittsburgh. The Chill never trailed and converted 11 breaks along the way, improving to 4-1 heading into their Week 8 road test at Madison.
“I was happy to get a win,” said Minnesota Coach Ben Feldman, via Ryan Baker. “I think there is a little bit of a sour taste in our mouths following the poor performance in the fourth. The most important thing was getting the win and taking care of business at home, especially after slipping against these guys last year.”
The Thunderbirds did outscore the Wind Chill 7-3 in the final 11 minutes, but Minnesota’s positive result was never really in doubt. Will Brandt tossed five assists to anchor the offense, while Max Hanscom produced four blocks to lead the D-line.
Since starting the season 2-0, Pittsburgh has now dropped four straight.
7. The winless stay winless
The Vegas Bighorns are now 0-6 following an 11-goal loss at Seattle and a four-goal defeat in Oregon. Meanwhile, the Detroit Mechanix are 0-3 this season and 1-88 in their last 89 after Saturday’s 25-16 setback against Indianapolis.
Entering the season, I would have predicted that it’s more likely than not that we would see every team in the league get at least one victory. But at the midway point, that’s no longer my belief.
I’d be delighted to be proven wrong, but right now it’s easy to envision the Bighorns and Mechanix both going 0-12.
We shall see.
The Hammer
Alright, to close things out this week, let’s take a deeper look at the East, which has been correctly characterized by players and coaches alike as the most competitive division in UFA history.
“The East is wild this year,” said DC’s Thomas Edmonds. “More wild than it ever has been. It honestly feels like anyone could beat anyone.”
“The East is absolute chaos,” added Toronto’s Luc Comire.
“It’s the best collection of teams the East has ever seen,” said New York Co-Coach Matt Stevens, “and it’s not remotely close.”
Here’s how the standings presently look, along with everyone’s remaining schedules:
BOS — 5-0 — @MTL, @TOR, vs. TOR, vs. DC, @PHI, @DC, @NY
DC — 4-3 — @NY, vs. MTL, @BOS, vs. BOS, @PHI
MTL — 3-4 — vs. BOS, @DC, @PHI, vs. TOR, vs. TOR
PHI — 3-4 — @PIT, vs. MTL, vs. BOS, @NY, vs PHI
NY — 3-5 — vs. DC, vs. TOR, vs. PHI, vs. BOS
TOR — 2-4 — vs. BOS, @NY, @BOS, vs. PIT, @MTL, @MTL
It’s impossible to predict how this is going to shake out, but one trend we’ve seen so far is that winning on the road is tough. Sure, we’ve seen Philly and Boston win in DC, Philly and DC deliver in Toronto, and New York prevail in Philly, but overall, home teams in East matchups have gone 13-5 so far. With 15 remaining divisional games, along with two interdivisional games—I’m gonna nervously pencil in a pair of wins over Pittsburgh—here’s what the East would look like at the end if home teams went 15-0 the rest of the way:
BOS — 8-4
NY — 7-5
PHI — 7-5
DC — 6-6
MTL — 6-6
TOR — 3-9
Of course, it’s highly unlikely that no more home teams will lose. So here’s another projection, going game-by-game, evaluating the remaining schedules based upon circumstance, history, and my boldest, bravest, coldhearted instinct.
I’ve put projected wins in bold.
BOS — 9-3 — @MTL, @TOR, vs. TOR, vs. DC, @PHI, @DC, @NY
DC — 8-4 — @NY, vs. MTL, @BOS, vs. BOS, @PHI
NY — 5-7 — vs. DC, vs. TOR, vs. PHI, vs. BOS
PHI — 5-7 — @PIT, vs. MTL, vs. BOS, @NY, vs DC
TOR — 5-7 — vs. BOS, @NY, @BOS, vs. PIT, @MTL, @MTL
MTL — 4-8 — vs. BOS, @DC, @PHI, vs. TOR, vs. TOR
I offer this example less as a clairvoyant prediction and more as just an example of one plausible possibility. In this hypothetical, I’ve got home teams going 10-5 in divisional action the rest of the way. With the Empire, Phoenix, and Rush all finishing at 5-7 in this specific simulation, New York would get the final playoff spot solely based upon my projected results.
For the record, I’m already feeling a little queasy about these projections.
Is Montreal, 3-0 through its first three home games, really going to lose two of their final three in front of the Royal fans?
After all of the drama and suspense, are we really gonna have Boston, DC, and New York, in whatever order, back as the three East Division playoff teams for the third straight season?
Obviously, it’s going to be incredibly close and contentious down the stretch, and I firmly believe that all six teams are capable of getting hot and finishing near the top of the pack.
Every single result matters, and it’s gonna be fascinating to watch it all unfold.
