Sports stats



MLL Ohio Machine

Machine Snake Bitten in Playoffs

August 1, 2015 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Ohio Machine News Release


The second-seeded Ohio Machine fell to the third-seeded Rochester Rattlers, 12-8, in the first-ever Major League Lacrosse Playoff Game hosted at Selby Stadium.

The game marked the Machine's second consecutive trip to the postseason, both of which have been against Rochester. Rochester defeated the Machine in last season's semifinal game played in Rochester.

Looking to reverse last year's 15-11 playoff loss against Rochester, Ohio got the early edge while jumping out ahead of the Rattlers 4-2 after the first quarter. Marcus Holman, put up the first point of the game for the Machine and his 40th goal of the season. Tom Schreiber followed this with his second two-point goal of the season.

However, Rochester did not plan on going down easy. Using its defense to shut down an explosive Ohio offense, the Rattlers were able to pull ahead of the Machine, 5-4, with under five minutes to play in the first half. To avoid going scoreless in the second quarter for the first time this season, Jake Bernhardt fired in a goal for the Machine with 1:27 left to play in the half to tie the game at five.

The third quarter was all Rochester to start out as the Rattlers went on a 5-1 run to open the third quarter to build as much as a four-goal lead over the Machine. Defenseman Brian Farrell was able to keep the Machine in reach with the Rattlers when he took the ball down the field and found the back of the net for the fifth time this season.

After the Farrell goal, Rochester continued to have its way. However, despite being down 10-6, the Machine were not ready to give up.

With 3:48 left to go in the third quarter, Holman fired a shot in for his third goal of the contest and rookie Jimmy Bitter seemed to not be phased in his first game on the big stage with a leaping goal of his own to decrease the Rochester lead to two right before the end of the third.

For the fourth straight quarter, the Rattlers were the first on the board and were able to again increase the lead to four with under five minutes to play in the game.

With time winding down the Machine were forced into desperation mode to try and get back into the game. However, it seemed to be just too little too late as the Rochester defense stood strong down low and forced the Machine to take long shots.

For the second straight year Rochester has knocked the Machine out of the playoffs and will move on to play the winner of the Boston and New York game next Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Machine will end its season with a 9-5 regular season record after making the playoffs for a second straight season.

• Discuss this story on the Major League Lacrosse message board...

Major League Lacrosse Stories from August 1, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central