Winning a game in Major League Lacrosse is tough as it is. Having two games in one weekend, with one of them an away game, further complicates matters. Make one of them an overtime game, and a weekend sweep becomes a tall task, but that’s just what the Ohio Machine did.

On Thursday, the Machine traveled to Harvard Stadium and defeated the Boston Cannons in overtime, 16-15. Ohio turned around two days later and hosted the Chesapeake Bayhawks, topping them 15-13 on Saturday night. The two victories secured season sweeps of both Boston and Chesapeake, extended the team’s winning streak to five games and put the Machine a half-game in front of the Denver Outlaws for first place in the league.

“I feel great, two wins in three days,” Peter Baum said on the team’s website. “That’s all you can ask for.”

The game against the Cannons was close throughout, but Boston had a 13-11 lead heading into the final quarter.

Ohio attackman Marcus Holman scored two goals in the fourth quarter and another in overtime to lead the Machine to its first win of the weekend. He finished the game against Boston with five goals and two assists.

“Whenever we play Boston is a really fun atmosphere and an electric environment,” Holman said. “This was a gritty win for us. No discredit to them, but I felt like the whole world was a little bit against us tonight, and we scrapped and stayed with it and ball bounced our way at the end.”

Against Chesapeake, Ohio scored the first two goals and never looked back, holding onto the victory despite six fourth-quarter goals from the Bayhawks.

Holman scored another three goals against the Bayhawks. Baum also had three goals — one of which was a 2-point score — and had two assists.

Charlotte, John Haus end Florida’s winning streak

The Florida Launch had a three-game winning streak entering Week 10 of the MLL season, but the Charlotte Hounds put a stop to that with an 18-14 victory Saturday.

The Hounds had four players elected to the MLL All-Star Game, but it was midfielder John Haus who led the way, scoring five goals and tallying three assists.

Four of those goals and one assist came during a 10-goal second quarter for Charlotte, which overcame a 5-2 deficit. The assist came on a 2-pointer from defender Michael Erhardt.

“The biggest thing for us from an offensive standpoint is just getting adjusted and used to playing with each other and starting to get into a flow of things,” Haus said on the team’s website. “We’ve had the same guys in the lineup over the last couple of games and that’s really helped us. That’s been the biggest thing for us. I don't think we’ve had a group like we do right now, all six to eight of us are all offensive threats. I think that’s really working. Defensively, those guys are tough as heck and fight until the end. I think we’re just starting to hit on all cylinders.”

The win extended Charlotte’s current winning streak to three games.

Stars make return in losses

Two of the biggest superstars in Major League Lacrosse — New York’s Rob Pannell and Chesapeake’s Lyle Thompson — were active for their respective teams, and even though they put up good numbers, they could not help lead their teams to victory.

Pannell played for the first time since May 20 after he needed surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament. In New York’s 17-14 loss to the Denver Outlaws, Pannell scored three goals and had the assist on three others.

“You’re certainly thinking about it because it does get hit and you get a little pain,” he told Lax Sports Network at the time of the injury. “The Boston game [on May 20], I had a splint that was pretty thick on my hand, so my stick wasn’t even touching my skin on my left hand, so that was very different as well. I’m not making excuses or anything, I still have to play and produce. But just knowing it’s there and whatnot, I think mentally, as athletes, we want to go into games knowing that we’re 100 percent and we’re not thinking about anything that will prohibit us from doing our jobs.”

Thompson — the 2014 and 2015 Tewaaraton Award winner — made his 2017 debut after helping the Georgia Swarm win the National Lacrosse League championship. It was also his debut for the Chesapeake Bayhawks after an offseason trade sent him to Annapolis from the Florida Launch.

He had two goals and one assist in the loss to Ohio.

“It was awesome to have Lyle on the field. He brings so much charisma and draws a lot of attention,” Bayhawks head coach Brian Reese said on the team’s website. “We need to learn how to play off Lyle a little more. We need guys working off-ball instead of watching Lyle do his thing.”

Noteworthy

Randy Staats scored the overtime game-winner to put Atlanta over Rochester, 14-13. He finished the game with four goals and one assist. Jeremy Noble, who scored the game-tying goal for Atlanta with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, had three goals. … Rochester rookie Zed Williams continued his strong play, scoring three goals — giving him seven in three games — and notching his first MLL assist. … Bayhawks rookies Jake Froccaro and Josh Byrne each scored three goals against the Machine. … Joe Nardella won 25 of 35 faceoffs, picked up 12 ground balls and scored two goals in Boston’s loss to Ohio. … New York’s Curtis Dickson scored a game-high five goals against the Outlaws. … Denver got four goals apiece from Matt Kavanagh and Jeremy Sieverts. Kavanagh also had two assists.

Player of the Week

Connor Cannizzaro, A, Ohio Machine

The fifth-pick in the 2017 MLL Collegiate Draft became the final first-round selection to make his league debut when he suited up for both Machine games this weekend. The University of Denver graduate showed the different ways he can make an impact on the game. Against Boston, Cannizzaro scored three goals and added two assists. Against Chesapeake, he led all Machine players with four goals, while tallying another assist.

“It felt really great to get out here and get my first game under my belt,” he said on the team’s website. “The guys I’m playing with out here really help ease the nerves. They just took me as one of their own and led me towards success.”