Photo by Kathy Joyce, Boston Glory
JULY 3, 2025
By Kyle Turnbaugh
The DC Breeze (5-4) will travel north to New England to take on the Boston Glory (8-0) with a chance to avenge their earlier defeat to the division-leading Glory and take another step toward qualifying for the playoffs. The Breeze head into the matchup hot off a dominant win against Montreal and will look to continue their positive streak, as they set their sights on UFA Championship Weekend.
Last week's victory for the Breeze came off the back of an impressive defensive performance, which was a refreshing sight for Breeze fans, considering the defensive struggles throughout the season. DC will hope that the performance isn't just a one-off occurrence but rather a genuine turnaround for the defense. A major player in the shifting tides of the Breeze D-Line has been rookie Micah Wagner. Wagner’s hustle and strong physicality have led to the rookie posting five blocks and five goals over his first three games. Last week, standout performances from veterans like David Bloodgood, Jasper Tom, and AJ Merriman also boosted the Breeze defense, not just in generating blocks, but turning those chances into breaks with composure around the disc. The Breeze defense totaled a season-high 14 blocks and 14 breaks against a Montreal offense that torched them in their earlier matchup. Boston is a much different offense than Montreal, however. Glory’s offensive stats don't jump off the page at you, but this team wouldn't be undefeated without a solid offensive presence. They average 20+ goals per game while being fairly conservative on offense. Glory are quietly third in the league in completion percentage and third in hold percentage, reflecting their style of patiently moving the disc down the field and using their size advantage downfield that they have over most teams.
For the Breeze offense, they are coming up against one of the toughest defenses in the league. Glory's defense is sixth in the league in breaks and third, if you count out Central division teams with easy matchups, as Boston breaks on one-third of their defensive points. On top of the difficulty of Boston’s defense, the Breeze will be without cutters Cole Jurek and Christian Boxley, who are first and fourth on the team in goals, respectively. On top of their abilities as downfield threats, Jurek and Boxley both are significant threats with the disc in their hands, which was exemplified against Montreal, as Jurek threw a beautiful huck to Coby Loveranes, and Boxley acted as a facilitator for the Breeze offense. Without this talented duo, the Breeze will need big games from Rowan McDonnell from the hybrid role and from the aforementioned Loveranes in the deep space. Tyler Monroe and Jeff Wodatch have also had big seasons and can hopefully make up for lost production. Jacques Nissen will also be returning for the Breeze after missing last week's game, which will give the Breeze O-line their quarterback and allow the handler rotation to return to normal and redistribute some of the workload from Andrew Roy and Thomas Edmonds. It will be interesting to see how Aidan Downey will be deployed, as the former college star with the University of Georgia already has seven assists and four goals in just three games for the Breeze, splitting his playing time equally on offense and defense. Downey has mostly played on offense in the last two games, and without Jurek and Boxley, he may be called on to cut more than he has been asked to thus far.
For Boston, they are one of two undefeated teams left in the Association. Led by two-time MVP Jeff Babbitt and international sensation and 2024 Rookie of the Year Tobe Decraene, Glory have looked nigh impregnable on their quest to top the East and push to Championship Weekend. Glory bank on their consistency, boasting the second-fewest turnovers in the league and having given up the third-fewest goals in the league. Boston hasn't cruised to victory in every game, though, as they have survived scares, including an overtime win at home against New York and a double overtime victoy on the road against Montreal. Glory’s previous matchup against DC was a three-goal victory at Carlini Field, where the Breeze were held to just 11 goals. Boston racked up eight breaks, while DC scored just three, even though the teams had a comparable number of chances, displaying Boston’s efficiency off turnovers and DC’s struggles. DC was missing a few key players for that matchup, and the final score doesn't look that bad, but Boston was truly in control for the entirety of the game and led by as many as six goals in the fourth quarter. If DC wants to flip the script, they are going to have to run Boston’s defense ragged. If the Breeze O-line can play into their usual small-ball style and exhaust Boston’s stars, they have a chance to knock off the undefeated Glory. DC will need to be physical on defense against the big frames of Orion Cable and Decraene, and luckily, DC has some size of their own. Moussa Dia, Merriman, and Wagner all have the ability to compete in the air against stronger opponents. Another intriguing defensive option for the Breeze is Frederick Farah, who only appeared in the road win against Carolina this season, as the 6’3” defender offers DC another tool to deploy against a lethally-efficient Boston offense.
Boston will be without a few players in Sunday's rematch. Speedy cutter Calvin Stoughton is questionable for the game after missing Glory's last game. Glory will definitely be without Simon Carapella, one of their main offensive weapons, O-line handler Topher Davis and defender Tyler Chan. As mentioned earlier, the Breeze will be without Jurek and Boxley, but they will also miss out on Isaac Lee, Marcus Lee and Miles Grovic, three defensive players.
The Breeze will hit the road looking to secure their playoff position and knock off the top dog of the East, but Boston has shown no sign of taking their foot off the gas and would surely love to go undefeated in the regular season. Catch the DC Breeze as they travel to Hormel Stadium in Medford, Mass. to take on the Boston Glory. First pull goes up at 1:00PM ET. Catch all the action live on watchUFA.tv.
