The Denver Outlaws were the first team in the MLL to accomplish an undefeated season in 2013. This season, the New York Lizards had a chance to become the second team to remain perfect, but the Charlotte Hounds weren’t about to let that happen as they barely defeated the Lizards 13-12 at James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday June 20th.
Immediately the Lizards had a disadvantage as their star attacker Paul Rabil sat out the game with an injury.
It was the Hounds that started off the game with a bang with a goal from Mike Chanenchuk thirty-eight seconds into the game. Then they doubled the lead with Kevin Cunningham scoring off a pass from John Haus.
Realizing the Hounds wasn’t a team that could be taken lightly, the Lizards ramped up their play and took control of the game. Matt Gibson tied the game with two consecutive goals and then Tommy Palasek gave the Lizards a 3-2 lead. It was a memorable night for Hakeem Lecky as he scored his first career MLL goal to widen the lead to two goals. A late goal by Terry Kimener trim the deficit back to one goal before the end of the first period.
Drew Adams was the star of the second period as he kept the Hounds off the board for most of the period, but the Lizards’ scorers couldn’t take advantage of Adams’ spectacular play. Seeing the lack of scoring from the Lizards, Michael Ehrhardt scorched a two-point goal past Adams with 3:39 left in the half to put the Hounds back up by one. They increased their lead to two with a goal from Joey Sankey. Rob Pannell attempted to keep the Lizards within striking distance by scoring his first goal of the game, but Jake Tripuka responded with a goal of his own. Gibson and Palasek scored two goals in the final two minutes to tie the game at seven at the half.
The Lizards wanted to come out of halftime and take control of the game, and did so with an early third period goal by Mike Stone. However, the Hounds went on a three-goal run, two by J. Haus and one by Cunningham, to gain a 10-8 lead. The Lizards then went on their own three-goal run led by Pannell, Ned Crotty, and Palasek to give them a 11-10 lead at the end of the third.
The fourth period went pretty much the same way as the third. Stone opened play with a goal, and then the Hounds went on another three-goal run, this time led by Will Haus, also scoring hist first MLL goal of his career, Sankey, and Cunningham, caping off a three-goal night for Cunningham. The only difference was there was no response from the Lizards and the Hounds held on for a 13-12 victory.
For the Lizards, this marks the first loss of the season as their record stands at 8-1. They will travel to Florida to take on the Launch next Saturday in what will be the first game of a two-game road trip. The Hounds, on the other hand, improve to 2-7 and have a lot of confidence going into their next game against the Denver Outlaws. The MLL and their fans will have to wait until next year to see if there will be another team that goes undefeated.
