(PC: Derek Frazer)
July 18, 2023
By Shaggy Shragis
The Philadelphia Phoenix fell to the DC Breeze 20-18 in an overtime thriller that saw the Hotbirds jump out to an early lead and the Breeze mount a furious comeback. It was the fourth regular season meeting between the two teams in the last two seasons to come down to the last possession, and all four have now been won by the Breeze. With the win, DC locked up the two seed for the playoffs and eliminated Philadelphia from postseason contention for the second year in a row: DC defeated the Phoenix in the playoffs in 2022, ending the Philly season.
It was a tale of two halves for Philadelphia, who built an 11-8 lead going into halftime off the back of a tenacious defensive effort that converted on 4 of 5 break opportunities. Philly took advantage of poor form from Jonny Malks and Rowan McDonnell—two star DC throwers—who accounted for seven of the Breeze’s 15 turnovers. Several of their miscues were born on the back of incredible handler defense from the likes of Justin Keller covering Jacques Nissen, Paul Owens on Malks, and Matt Hanna on McDonnell. The highlight of that pressure was a near callahan in the third quarter, when Justin Keller blanketed the aforementioned Nissen until Malks threw it directly into Keller’s chest. The throw was so directly to the defender that JK batted it away instinctually, missing out on the immediate goal and having to settle for watching Paul Owens and Max Trifillis pick up the counting stats.
The defense had an exemplary game, scoring on five of eight break opportunities. So consistent was their scoring acumen that the missed break chances stick out like a sore thumb. One was on a just too far throw from Witmer, and the second was after a timeout call on an excellent defensive play by Alexandre Fall on the Breeze, who dropped out of a double team to fly into a block on a Sean Mott reset. The final turnover by the defense was committed in the waning seconds of regulation, as Campy was forced to put up a buzzer beater that fell just short of the end zone. All in all, if I were one to hand out grades, the defense would earn themselves an A- for a sterling performance against a top tier offense in the AUDL.
Offensively on the other hand, Philadelphia was unable to keep pace with the Breeze, and it cost them the game. Of the Hotbirds 15 turnovers on offense, only four were due to blocks from DC. The rest were the result of overthrown hucks, underthrown unders, and poorly timed looks to the sideline. Six of those were deep shots that were uncompletable, either too deep or out of bounds. In the Hotbird Huck, I proposed that if Philly could drag DC into a huck off, the Phoenix would have a good chance of coming out the better of the deep game exchange and winning. Didn’t happen. Philadelphia converted 60% of their long balls, DC converted 83%.
Philly’s offensive shortcomings were mirrored by the nearly flawless fourth quarter and overtime performance put together by the Breeze. Both offenses are set up similarly, with a vertical stack in the middle or side of the field set deep enough for the handlers to operate in a weave and the front of the stack to make slashing cuts underneath. DC was consistently able to connect its handler movement with 20-30 yard in-cuts that flowed seamlessly from the motion. Phoenix were mired in a stagnated handler set that required precision throws in high stall count situations. This has plagued the offense all season, and it is the facet of the team they will need to improve next season.
Even with that said, the Phoenix played well enough in this game to beat nearly any team in the league. Unfortunately, they were playing against one of the best teams in the league who put together one of the best fourth quarters of ultimate they have all season. The reality of the Eastern Division is that to truly make waves, one has to beat DC or New York. That is the measuring stick the Phoenix should hold themselves to. Not Boston, not Toronto, and certainly not the central division or fans on twitter from Utah: DC and New York. In a game of this caliber and intensity, DC made adjustments and had an additional gear to reach that Philadelphia simply did not. Philadelphia has shown that they belong on the same field as both the Breeze and the Empire—falling to both in overtime after leading for much of the game—now they need to take the final step and actually beat DC or New York.
An aside: I would like to give a shout out to the best play from this weekend of ultimate, and one of the best plays all season, which no one will remember because it was called a foul. In the fourth quarter, DC threw a huck to Rowan McDonnell, and Matt Hanna made a sensational over the shoulder layout that, when he left the ground, seemed utterly hopeless in the distance he needed to cover. Somehow, Hanna hit the disc first, and slammed it into Rowan’s hand, briefly sandwiching it between the two in a truly beautiful display of ultimate playmaking. The referees called it a strip, because it appeared to them that Rowan had caught the disc. Such was the serenity of the block, that the official saw the disc stop on Rowan’s hand and thought, “no human could have done what Matt Hanna just did and have it not be a foul.” In many ways, it typified the Phoenix season: an eye popping, sensational, and awe inspiring play that ended up meaningless.
Though the Phoenix are eliminated from the playoffs, this team played pretty well all season, and played pretty well in this game. Philadelphia now knows how good they are, and exactly how good they need to be in order to make real waves in the AUDL. They were one throw, one catch, one point away from beating New York, Boston, and DC twice. With one game left this season—and nothing to play for—my hope is that they can put it together and show the world just how special this group is, even if only us Philly fans will be watching.
