WASHINGTON — This year brought a variety of great local sports moments from a number of different sports. And while championships continue to be few and far between in the capital region, there was still plenty to celebrate in 2015.
Yes, our definition of “D.C.” stretches to include our surrounding coverage area, so you will see a few moments from non-Washington based teams or athletes. Think we missed something? Let us know in the comments.
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AP Photos
15. Reynolds, Navy set records
Not content with simply setting the NCAA career rushing touchdown record, Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds set the overall career touchdown record in the Military Bowl this week. With his 88th score, Reynolds not only etched his name in the record books, he helped Navy to its 11th win of the season, the most in the 135-year history of the program.
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14. Maryland beats #5 Wisconsin, 59-53
In Maryland basketball’s inaugural year in the Big Ten, they answered their biggest home test with a resounding win over #5 Wisconsin, letting an 11-point lead slip before pulling away late. It was the Terps’ third straight year with a win over a top-5 conference opponent, after beating Virginia and Duke twice the previous two seasons.
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13. Howard clinches first .500 season in 13 years with overtime buzzer-beater
Howard clinched its first season of .500 or better with a thrilling, overtime, buzzer-beating victory over Norfolk State at Byrd Gymnasium on Senior Night last season. And while we couldn’t find video of that, James Daniel, who hit the game-winner, has already done so again this year, beating William & Mary with a three as part of a career-high 39. Daniel leads the nation in scoring for the 7-7 Bison.
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12. Maryland reasserts lacrosse dominance
Maryland has always been a lacrosse hotbed, but the state’s flagship university reasserted itself in 2015 as the University of Maryland women took the national title and the men beat rival Johns Hopkins to make the national final before finishing as the runners-up.
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11. Spirit make playoffs, draw highest attendance ever
It was a banner year for women’s soccer in America, and the afterglow from the World Cup victory helped spur the National Women’s Soccer League to new heights. Led by local Ali Krieger, the Washington Spirit reached the playoffs and drew a record attendance of better than 4,000 per game, up 22 percent from 2014.
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10. Max Scherzer throws two no-hitters
This was mere inches and one elbow guard away from potentially earning the top spot on the list. Scherzer very nearly tossed a perfect game in his first no-hitter, but hit Jose Tabata, the 27th batter, with two outs in the ninth. He impressively struck out 17 when he tossed his second no-no on the final day of the season, becoming the first pitcher to throw two in a season since Nolan Ryan.
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9. Paul Pierce: “I called game”
The Wizards gave the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks all they could handle in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, thanks to John Wall gutting it out through pain and Paul Pierce hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. But none was bigger than this game-winning step-back in Game 3, after which he unleashed the quote that would come to define the postseason run. Did he call “bank?” No, he called “game.”
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8. Alex Ovechkin sets Russian goal-scoring record
The Great 8 is far from done setting records in the NHL, but he achieved a milestone this year that set him above all his fellow countrymen. With his 484th tally, Ovechkin surpassed Sergei Fedorov off a feed from, who else, Nicklas Backstrom, to became the highest-scoring Russian player ever in the NHL.
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7. Jake Funk scores 7 TDs in the state title game, 57 for season
If you’ve been following high school football this season, you know there was no team as dominant as Damascus, which stormed its way to an undefeated, state championship season. The Swarmin’ Hornets did so on the back (and legs) of Jake Funk, the Maryland-bound senior, who smashed the Maryland state record with 57 touchdowns, including a record seven in the state title game, a 55-14 beat down of Dundalk.
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6. Caps win Winter Classic at the buzzer
Bringing the Winter Classic to Washington was enough reason for celebration, but the way the game finished made it an instant classic. With his power play goal with just 12.9 seconds to play, Troy Brouwer sent the Nationals Park crowd into a frenzy and gave the Caps a 3-2 win over Chicago.
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5. Kastles win fifth straight title
There have been few teams as dominant throughout their history as the Washington Kastles, who took home their fifth consecutive World Team Tennis title this summer. Perhaps even more impressively, Kastles stars Martina Hingis and Leander Paes, who began playing together as a mixed doubles team here in D.C., decided to try their hand together in the grand slam events for the first time this year. All they did was go out and win the title in three of the four, including the U.S. Open to cap the year.
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4. Maryland Women return to Final Four
Brenda Frese has carved out quite a legacy in College Park, and 2015 was arguably her greatest season to date. The Terps finished their first Big Ten season with a perfect 18-0 en route to a 34-3 overall mark and a second consecutive trip to the Final Four. While the program lost a few talented players, there is good reason for high hopes again this year with Maryland off to an 11-1 start.
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3. Bryce Harper’s MVP campaign
The signature moment of Bryce Harper’s unanimous MVP campaign was probably his three-home run game on May 6, where he hit one to left and a pair to the upper deck in right field. But that was just a sign of things to come, as Harper posted nearly a 10-WAR season, leading the league in on-base percentage and slugging percentage while splitting the home run title and finishing second in the batting race. Not bad for a 22-year-old.
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2. Ledecky smashes 1,000 meter mark
In a non-Olympic year, it can be easy to forget about sports like swimming that often only get national exposure once every four years. But now would be a good time to start paying attention to what D.C. native Katie Ledecky is doing, if you aren’t already. Ledecky already owns a swath of world records, but she just set another American record this month in the 1,000 meters. And she annihilated it. Ledecky became the first woman to swim a sub-9 minute race, smashing the old record by better than 11 seconds. Let the Olympic hype begin.
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1. “You Like That!?”
Was it a question? An exclamation? Following the biggest comeback in franchise history, with three words Kirk Cousins gave his team a rallying cry they would carry all season long. And despite some bumps in the road, the Burgundy and Gold were able to take advantage of a weak NFC East field to claim an unlikely division title, bringing a home playoff game to FedEx Field for the first time since 2012.
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