A week after defeating the top ranked Chesapeake Bayhawks, the Charlotte Hounds relapsed to sloppy play and lost 21-7 to the Denver Outlaws. The Hounds were outshot 40-18 by the Outlaws, who came out and ended the first quarter with a 10-1 lead. The Hounds now fall to 3-7, tied for 6th in the league and the Outlaws move up to second place in the league with a 7-3 record.
Adam Ghitelman, who started in goal for the Hounds, was taken out at the end of the first half after stopping only 6 of 19 shots equaling a .315 final percentage. He was replaced by rookie Mark Manos who was able to block 13 of 21 shots for a .619 save percentage.
Jeremy Boltus lead all scorers for the Hounds with 4 points including a 2-point goal and 2 assists. Stephen Berger and Kevin Kaminski both added 2 points for the Hounds, whose hopes of a playoff appearance took a hit after a big loss to the Outlaws. Also adding points for Charlotte was Billy Bitter, Jovan Miller, Brian Carroll and Matt Danowski.
The Hounds’ face-off woes continued tonight, winning only 7 of 31 attempts. The Hounds traded for face-off specialist Geoff Snider early in the week, but can’t use him until he is done coaching the U-19 Canadian National Team in Finland in 3 weeks.
The Denver Outlaws now move to 7-3 on the year and move up to second in the league, one game behind the Bayhawks. Denver took control of the game early and never let up. They led 10-1 at the end of the first quarter, and continued to fire at Charlotte’s goalies for the rest of the game. Rookie Mark Matthews played an exceptional game and led all scorers with 7 points on 4 goals and 3 assists.
Adding 4 points for the Outlaws was Brendan Mundorf, who now has the second-most points in the MLL. Six players for Denver scored 3 or more points including Matthews, Mundorf, Casey Cittadino, Chris Bocklet, Terry Kimener, and Jeremy Sieverts. Five other players registered points for the Outlaws.
Jesse Schwartzman was great in cage stopping 9 of 13 shots for a .692 save percentage. Schwartzman made multiple key saves that kept the energy going for the Outlaws throughout the game. Adam Fullerton also got in goal for 11 minutes and stopped 3 of 5 shots during his time in cage.
Next week the Hounds travel to Rochester to take on the 5-5 Rattlers and the Outlaws play host to the 6-4 Cannons. Both the Rattlers and Cannons lost last night to the Bayhawks and Lizards respectively.
