Machine seeks to rebound against Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Barrage, the reigning MLL champions, and the Chicago Machine will clash Saturday at Aneusher-Busch Center with both teams hoping to rebound from losses last weekend.
The Barrage (2-2) suffered a 22-12 blowout at the hands of the Long Island Lizards and is riding a two-game losing streak. The Machine (1-3) suffered a 15-14 loss in overtime to the San Francisco Dragons and is on a three-game losing streak.
This will be just the second time the teams have ever met. Their last match took place during the 2006 season, when the Barrage needed an overtime victory to squeak past the Machine 13-12.
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The Machine and Barrage bring strongly contrasting squads into the game. The Machine, the youngest team in the league, sports a mass of fresh talent, while the Barrage relies on experience and guile.
The Barrage, however, is unsure whether its reigning Warrior Goalie of the year, Brian "Doc" Dougherty, will be able to play this weekend. Dougherty is questionable after suffering a shoulder injury during the game against Long Island last week.
Last week, Machine coach John Combs took a gamble and threw another rookie onto the field, midfielder Terry Kimener, who responded by scoring three goals in his MLL debut.
In the last two games, the Machine has played four members of their rookie class from the 2008 MLL Collegiate Draft. Mike Leveille (2G, 5A), Will Barrow (1G), Steven Brooks (4G, 4A), and Terry Kimener (3G) have combined for 19 points total in just two games.
The Machine defense reduced the number of penalties it took from 10 against Washington to just four against San Francisco last week. The Dragons, however, took advantage of those power plays and netted three goals on four power play opportunities.
The Machine defensive unit of Jeff Bigas, Rob Smith, Steve Whittenberg and goalie Mike Gabel will have to put together a strong effort to neutralize Barrage firepower from the likes of Matt Striebel (8G, 7A), Seth Goldberg (12G, 1A) and Ryan Boyle (4G, 9A). Chicago's penalty-killing unit will have to step up this weekend to shut down the Barrage's 36-percent powerplay advantage.
On face-offs, Machine midfielder Doug Shanahan should have some success considering the Barrage have only won 41 percent of its draws in the last four games.