Photo by Alan Bloodgood
MAY 5, 2026
By Will Stuntz
The DC Breeze (1-1) kicked off their home campaign this Sunday against the Montreal Royal (0-2), who they defeated 20-18 in a high-turnover outing for both squads. Montreal was facing some adversity entering the game, as they were coming off a game with the Boston Glory just one day prior, and they were without Quentin Bonnaud and Jakob Brissette, the Royal’s 2025 respective goals and throwing yards leaders. Montreal also dealt with travel hiccups on their two-game road trip, as Royal ownership booked flights for the team on Spirit Airlines, which ceased operations prior to the match, forcing the organization to drive overnight from Boston to DC.
Montreal recorded 21 turnovers, with the Breeze throwing 17. The windy conditions at Carlini Field were a hurdle for both teams, as errant throws were a regular occurrence. DC’s turnovers came primarily from throwaways, as Montreal only recorded six blocks, while DC was forcing turnovers out of the Royal consistently, with 12 of Montreal's 21 turnovers coming from blocks. With the prominence of turnovers, break chances were the name of the game. The Breeze found nine goals from breaks in their 22 chances, which was nearly half of all of their scores, while Montreal was only able to convert six of its 19 break chances.
Leading the Breeze on both lines was AJ Merriman, who played 29 total points, 10 more than any other Breeze player. Merriman tallied three assists, four goals and two blocks with a team high of 526 yards.
Also putting up a stellar offensive performance was Gabe Dowd, who found four goals and an assist while going 10-for-10 on throws in his Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) debut. Also finding their first UFA scores were Raymond Lu and Wiebe van den Brink. Lu was a difference maker for the Breeze D-line in his pro debut, hauling in two goals and dishing out an assist in his 14 points on defense. Van den Brink, DC’s rookie import from the Netherlands, found his first two assists, goal, and block in his second outing for the Breeze and went 9-for-9 for a 100% completion rate.
For Montreal, Kevin Quinlan was the go-to guy for the Royal’s passing attack, racking up 305 yards in the air with two assists. Phillipe Le Bourdais’s cutting was huge for the Royal, finding four goals and catching for 191 yards. Malik Auger-Semmar was also a major factor for the Royal O-line, handing out three assists and bringing in a goal. Auger-Semmar had three great looks in the endzone that all seemed like they would be routine catches for the 6-foot-2 UFA legend, but all three were blocked by a high-flying Charlie McCutcheon despite having a significant height disadvantage.
The game started off with a hectic Breeze O-line point that saw each team turn the disc over twice before Sean Mott connected with Merriman on a scoober to put the Breeze up 1-0. Quinlan got the Royal started with a flick huck to William St-Pierre to put them in scoring position when Auger-Semmar punched it in the back of the endzone to St-Pierre for the equalizer. The DC O-line marched back on the field, and Mott threw a 59-yard huck to Christian Boxley that set up Dowd’s first UFA goal. A throwaway from Auger-Semmar led to a DC break, and van den Brink found his fellow rookie Lu for the pair's first career scores, giving DC an early 3-1 lead. DC found another break chance on the next point, but Thomas Lalonde-Landry immediately took the disc back then facilitated the Royal moving down the field, and Simon Ruelle made a quick shovel pass to Antoine Dubé in the endzone to cut their deficit to one. Boxley and Merriman connected on the next point for a DC hold, and then McCutcheon made his first highlight block over Auger-Semmar in the endzone to give DC another break chance, which they eventually converted after another turnover by each team, as Kevin Healey found van den Brink for his first UFA goal and second score of the game. A quick hold from each team followed before Jacob Duquette unleashed a buzzer-beater backhand huck to Le Bourdais to end the first with DC leading 6-4.
Montreal started off red hot in the second stanza with a hold on the first point followed by two break conversions to retake the lead at 7-6. DC came back with a nearly identical 3-0 run of their own, starting with a hold, as Jacques Nissen found Coby Loveranes wide open with a scoober right over a group of Montreal defensemen. Tanner Gesell then laid out for his first block of the game before DC subbed in their O-line to take care of the break chance, as Merriman dished out Mott’s first goal in a Breeze uniform. On Montreal’s next O-line point, Quinlan took a shot across the field at Auger-Semmar in the endzone that was once again thwarted by McCutcheon. The break chance found an unmarked van den Brink in the midfield, who uncorked a 66-yard flick huck that fell perfectly into the hands of Billy O’Bryan for his first Breeze score, extending DC’s lead back to two. DC and Montreal traded holds on the next four points, leaving DC up 11-9. DC closed the half strong with another break, as Brandon Lamberty found his first assist of the season with a 30-yard connection to Merriman, giving them a three-score lead entering the break.
The latter half started rocky for the Breeze, as they threw it away on their fourth pass of the first point before Montreal subbed in their O-line, and Auger-Semmar ripped a backhand that connected with Le Bourdais in the endzone once again. DC held on the next point with a goal-line shovel from Loveranes to Dowd before Quinlan threw a 60-yard flick to St-Pierre in the endzone for a hold of Montreal’s own, bringing DC’s lead to 13-11. The next two points went perfectly for Montreal, as they forced two turnovers and scored on both break chances in under 30 seconds to tie the game up at 13-13. The Breeze turned the disc over again on the next point but got it right back thanks to a drop from Paul Hooley and quickly maneuvered downfield to Boxley on the goal line, who found Dowd for an easy goal and Dowd's third of the game. McCutcheon’s third and final block over Auger-Semmar led to another break score for the Breeze on the next point, which was caught by Luke Rehfuss for his first goal of 2026. DC forced another Montreal turnover but couldn’t convert the break, as Ben Greenberg recorded his second throwaway, and Christophe Tremblay-Joncas hucked one at the endzone for another Le Bourdais goal, cutting DC’s lead back to 15-14 entering the final stage.
Another rough start for the Breeze came in the fourth, as Montreal found a quick hold to start the quarter off from Ruelle to Auger-Semmar to tie the game. A throwaway from Boxley on the next point gave Montreal a chance to take back the lead, which they did, as a miscommunication by the Breeze left Dubé wide open for an easy flick from Ywan Cohonner, giving the Royal one of their few leads of the game at 16-15. DC responded in under a minute on the next point, when Nissen threw out of the backfield to Mott on the left sideline, who saw Merriman cutting deep and placed a flick from 52 yards out that was all too easy for Merriman to bring down for the equalizer. Montreal retook the lead at 17-16 with a zero-turnover hold of their own, which was ultimately their last glimmer of hope. DC tied the game again with a hold, as Nissen found Dowd for his fourth goal, and followed that up by forcing three turnovers in a row that all resulted in flawless break scores for DC, putting DC up 20-17 with just 46 seconds remaining. Montreal tried its best to make something happen and found another quick hold with 24 seconds remaining, but DC’s O-line didn’t budge, and a Merriman hammer found a happy fan in the stands as time ran out.
The Breeze now sit at 1-1 and will hope for a winning record following their next matchup against New York on “Friday Night Frisbee” this Sunday, May 10 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Watch for free on YouTube.
