On the strength of six points from Peter Baum and Steele Stanwick, as well as a plethora of other contributors, Ohio (7-5) ousted Boston (7-5) by a score of 19-12 on Saturday night in front of 6,813 fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
The Machine were down 4-1 after 15 minutes of play, but they dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Cannons 8-0 to take a five goal lead into the locker room at halftime.
Boston tried to play catch up for the remainder of the game, but the Ohio offense would prove to be too much.
The 19 goals Ohio scored was their best offensive output of the seaon.
The Machine defense continued their stellar season on top of that. They have allowed 12 goals or less in eight of their 12 games this season.
David Emala and Kevin Buchanan scored within the first five minutes of the third quarter to cut the lead to 9-6, but that’s the closest the Cannons would come to tying the game.
Will Manny led the way point-wise for the Cannons, tallying three goals and two assists.
Emala led Boston’s goal scoring with four.
Faceoffs proved to be a major factor in the game as well as Ohio’s Greg Puskuldjian won 21-29 draws against the duo of Craig Bunker and Scott Ratliff.
Brian Phipps made 21 saves on 33 shots for the Machine while Jordan Burke and Adam Ghitelman split halves for the Cannons.
Burke made 13 saves on 21 shots and Ghitelman made five saves on 14 shots.
Ohio will play the final two weeks of their regular season at home while Boston is spending their remaining weeks on the road.
Ohio hosts first place New York next Saturday and Boston will pay a visit to Chesapeake on Thursday with major playoff implications on the line.
These two teams will meet one more time at Selby Stadium in Delaware, Ohio in their final regular season game of the year on July 25.
