Machine Defeated By Outlaws In Final Home Game

9 August 2006

Despite treating fans to aggressive, individual play in their final home game of the season, the Chicago Machine was unable to prevent the Denver Outlaws from out-scoring them in a 17-13 loss on Saturday.

The Machine limited the Outlaws to just two goals in the first quarter for a 3-2 lead. The teams traded goals throughout the quarter, with the Machine scoring goals by midfielder Chris Malone, attackman Sean Morris, and midfielder Dan Paccione. Both teams had great goaltending performances in the first with Mike Gabel stopping 9 of 11 shots and Trevor Tierney saving 7 of 10.

In the second quarter, the Outlaws would respond with two or three goals to each Machine goal. Outlaw midfielder Jeff Sonke scored his 20th goal of the season.

The Machine showed some resiliency, tying the game on great individual performances by team leading scorer Kevin Leveille and defenseman Damien Davis. The Outlaws shot back, as midfielder Mike Law netted his 30th goal of the season, and attackman Brendan Mundorf scored back to back. Machine rookie Jake Deane electrified the fans, taking the ball through the heart of the Denver defense for his first MLL career goal.

In the third quarter, Gabel managed to stop a low, fast shot from Sonke at the top of the two-point arc. Soon after, the Machine scored after confusion in front of the net, with the ball rolling in past Tierney. Mundorf scored the first hat trick of the game, but the Machine were far from done for the quarter. The Machine scored two goals to tie the game in a 30-second span-the first by midfielder Brad Heritage on the power play for his first MLL goal and the second by face-off specialist Doug Shanahan.

The final quarter of the final home game for the Machine was an aggressive effort by the team to hold their ground against the Outlaws, but the Outlaws scored seven goals in the quarter that gave them the win. In the final quarter, Leveille scored with a hat trick and also assisted on a goal by Dan Flannery.

"Our goal was to give the fans, Chicago and the ownership group a 'W'," said head coach Kevin Finneran after the game. "We play hard, and we played smart, but in the end, they just had more firepower than we did."

Source: oursportscentral

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