Ohio Machine at Charlotte Hounds
7 pm Saturday, April 26
American Legion Memorial Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
TV: ESPN3.com
The Game: The Hounds face off against the Machine—like Charlotte, beginning their third season in Major League Lacrosse—with different aspirations for the 2014 season.
The Hounds are looking to build off their success last season, when they finished 7-7 and qualified for the MLL playoffs, then knocked off the undefeated Denver Outlaws in the semifinals to advance to the league’s championship game.
On the other hand, Ohio is still searching for the same success Charlotte has had in its first two seasons. The Machine have only won four games total over the past two years—a third of what the Hounds have accomplished. They’re also 0-4 all-time against their franchise rivals.
What the Machine are saying: “Our guys are ready. We’re very determined to play the game. I know it’s kinda cliche, but that’s where we’re at. Sometimes guys—even at all levels—can kinda get caught up in all the stuff that doesn’t matter. But we’ve talked about going into the first couple of weeks, when you don’t really know the lineups or what teams are coming out, it’s probably even more important to focus on yourself and what we’re trying to do as a team. The guys are buying into that. They feel real strong about the continuity they’ve built with each other, and are primarily focused on that. This team has something to prove—not to everyone, primarily to themselves.”—Ohio head coach Bear Davis.
What the Hounds are saying: “One of the things early on in training camp, I had to step back and realize that we start again at ‘Go, don’t collect $200’ and kinda see how we have to move forward. We have a better team than we did last year at this time last April, but we’re certainly not the team that was playing in the playoffs at the end of August last year. We’re certainly excited to start that journey again and see where this group goes. We’ll see how competitive we’re going to be moving forward, and we’ll see what the future brings to the Charlotte Hounds.”—Charlotte head coach Mike Cerino.
Prediction: Sorry Machine, there’s no ending that losing streak to the Hounds this time. Charlotte 17, Ohio 12.
