It was a game of firsts at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD, as Ohio picked up its first win of the year, and Chesapeake fell for the first time this season in a 12-9 Machine win.
Ohio, who now stands at 1-2 on the young season, got off to a quick start, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game.
Midfielders Tom Schreiber and Kyle Harrison struck first for the visitors.
Chesapeake midfielder Matt Abbott would cut the lead to one, but only momentarily as midfielder Peter Baum and attackman Jimmy Dailey made it a 4-1 Ohio lead with 6:01 left in the opening frame.
The goal was Baum’s team leading 10th of the season.
Midfielders Jeff Reynolds and Jovan Miller scored 2:03 apart for the Bayhawks to make it 4-3 after 15 minutes of play.
The goal trading would continue on Taylor Avenue as Schreiber notched his second of the day at the 8:53 mark of the quarter, followed by a Jack Rice goal with 6:37 left.
Just 14 seconds after the Rice goal, Machine faceoff specialist Eric O’Brien would win the ensuing faceoff and motor down the field where he would find the back of the net past Bayhawks netminder Tyler Fiorito.
The former Princeton Tiger made 13 saves on 25 shots.
His counterpart in Brian Phipps had a stellar performance in making 14 stops on 23 shots.
Rice had no issue in bringing his team back to within one with 4:43 left in the half on a nice feed from Chesapeake assist leader, former Penn State Nittany Lion Matt Mackrides.
Ohio would add two more before the half ended thanks to Schreiber’s hat trick goal with 3:39 left and Baum tallying his second of the day with 1:37 to go.
The Machine would continue the run in the third quarter, as Dailey powered home a goal 16 seconds in. Attackman Zach Palmer would increase Ohio’s lead to five 1:42 later, as the four unanswered goals would prove to be the difference.
Rice sent home his hat-trick goal at the 8:04 mark of the third quarter for the Bayhawks, but Dailey would spoil the fun to put the Machine back up by five 1:14 later.
Chesapeake would mount a miniature comeback, scoring three goals in the final five minutes of the third thanks in part to attackman Ben Rubeor, Mackrides, and long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt.
The Rubeor goal was his team leading 8th of the campaign.
It would not be enough as the Machine played shut down defense in the final quarter and a Peter Baum hat-trick goal would end the scoring for the day.
Ohio was 0-2 with a man-up while they were very disciplined in not committing a penalty the entire game.
Not only did the Machine win the ground ball battle 31-21, but they were successful at the faceoff x, as O’Brien and Greg Puskuldjian made a solid impression on head coach Bear Davis.
The duo won 16 out of 25 draws against CJ Costabile and Brian Megill.
It was the seventh meeting between the two teams. Chesapeake now leads the all time series 4-3 but Ohio has now won three in a row.
They Bayhawks fall to 2-1 on the year and will hit the road to take on the Charlotte Hounds next Sunday.
Ohio, on the other hand, will travel to take on Florida for a Saturday night showdown in Boca Raton.
