The Ohio Machine may have fallen in their first ever Major League Lacrosse semi final yesterday to the hands of the Rochester Rattlers, but Ohio might have the brightest future of any MLL club.
After a dismal 2013, Ohio exploded in 2014 with a league leading 200 goals and league leading scorers all over the place. Marcus Holman and Peter Baum tied for seventh with 50 points each. Holman led the league with 37 goals and Baum was third with 35. Steele Stanwick was fifth in the league with 23 assists. Logan Schuss led the league with six points per game.
Ohio has built their roster with first round picks after two last place seasons before their emergence in 2014. They drafted first overall Steele Stanwick, Peter Baum, and Tom Schrieber. Schrieber missed the playoffs with a broken hand but is also a rising star.
Holman and Schuss were both fantastic mid round draft picks that have become elite MLL level players. The young attack of the Machine has already proven to be able to score on some of the best defenses in MLL, and should continue to do so as they develop.
The Machine goaltender Brian Phipps had the worst goals against of any goalie with 600 minutes or more. This weakness, along with a defense that allowed the second most goals against in the league, was their downfall.
Ohio’s offense is going to be one of the, if not the, best in the league for years to come, but how can their defense and goaltending improve? Scott Rodgers, once a top goalie prospect, also struggled in net.
Aside from a move for a goalie, the draft might be a nice chance to look at defense. Dylan O’Shaugnessy, Goran Murray, or Jack Near are some players they can look at. That likely fourth overall pick will be tempting to take a Nikko Pontrello or Connor Buczek, but Ohio needs to worry about how to improve their defense.
It just might put them over the top as a championship team in 2015.
