Toronto Nationals Battle the Machine in Season Home Opener

By Tim Bilcke |  6/10/10 4:57 PM

 

The Toronto Nationals put forth a valiant effort in their first game of the season
against the Chicago Machine. After a strong start, Toronto went into half time
trailing by only three goals. In the second half, the Nationals' offense struggled to
break through the Machine's tough defense.
John Grant Jr. led the charge with three points, scoring the Nationals' first goal of
the game, two minutes in, and one goal in each of the last two quarters. Newly
acquired Josh Sims wrecked havoc on the Machine's defense in the first quarter,
landing a two-pointer to take the lead, and followed it up with another goal to cap
off the first. Chazz Woodson, Brett Garber, and Matt Striebel scored one goal each
for the Machine respectively, with Terry Kimener scoring twice. The end of the first
quarter saw the Machine ahead by a score of 5-3. 
 
As the second quarter began, the Machine were first to strike with Brett Garber
sneaking through the Nationals' defense to score. Jordan Hall took hold of the reins,
scoring on a behind-the-back pass from Gavin Prout. Hall continued his domination
of the quarter by scoring the goal that brought the Nationals within three. The
Machine's Kevin Levielle and Bill McGlone scored two consecutive goals and
McGlone closed out the half with a goal to extend the Machine's lead to 9-6. 
 
As Brett Queener entered his net for the second half, the Machine opened up with
two uninterrupted goals. Later, Queener just missed Greg Bice's laser shot toward
the top right corner that extended Chicago's lead by four. Craig Point's behind the
net pass assisted Brodie Merrill to a chip-in goal, as the Nationals began their fight
to the finish. After another Machine goal, Grant hugged the crease for a right-
handed goal to close out the third quarter, bringing Toronto within four.
 
Grant exploded at the top of the fourth with a swim dodge through two Machine
defenders for his third and final goal of the game. Despite a strong effort, the
Nationals were unable to pull ahead of Chicago. Instead, the Machine scored three
consecutive goals by Striebel, Mike Leveille, and Kimener with a two-pointer to
finish the game with a 16-9 victory for the Chicago Machine. 
 
Grant and Sims produced three points each, and lead the team in points so far. Doc
Schneider and Brett Queener saved 14 of 29 shots on goal, with Queener picking up
the loss, after saving 10 out of the 16 shots thrown at him. 
 
Chicago was led by Matt Striebel, the Bud Light MVP of the game, with two goals
and seven shots on goal. Mike Gabel recorded the win, stopping four out of the
seven shots taken on him during the second half.
For complete game statistics, please visit the Point Streak website at: Toronto at
Chicago Boxscore.
 
The Nationals head home to Lamport Stadium next weekend to take on the
Chesapeake Bayhawks on Saturday, May 22 at 2:00 PM. The game will be broadcast
live on TSN2.  

---

Recent Comments

---

Related Articles:

Date	Title
06/09/2010	Brett Queener Postgame Interview
06/07/2010	TORONTO NATIONALS NARROWLY DEFEATED BY THE MACHINE
06/01/2010	MLL Announces Week 3 Award Winners