The Charlotte Hounds are in just their third year of existence, but have done something that only one other team has been able to accomplish over the last 718 days—defeat the Denver Outlaws. The Hounds have done it twice.
Denver has just three losses in that span, two coming to Charlotte.
Last weekend, the Hounds ended the game on a 6-2 run to turn a 13-12 deficit into an 18-15 victory, snapping the Outlaws’ 25-game regular season winning streak. Denver’s last regular season defeat came against the Lizards on June 23, 2012.
The Hounds have built a young and talented roster. Most of the team is recently out of college, including rookies Mike Chanenchuk and Justin Ward who combined for six points behind five goals and one assist.
It appears that Charlotte has developed a strategy, knowingly or not. Look up and down the roster and you see a lot of former teammates from the college ranks. Just looking at the 19 players who dressed in the Denver game, six of them played at the University of Maryland, all during the same timeframe: Chanenchuk ‘14, John Haus ‘13, Ryan Young ‘11, Michael Erhardt ‘14, Brett Schmidt ‘11 and Joe Cummings ‘12.
Three more are from Loyola: Josh Hawkins ’13, Mike Sawyer ’13 and Ward ’14. These two schools make up almost half of Charlotte’s gameday roster. I bet this isn’t by accident. In Major League Lacrosse, one of the biggest challenges is gelling as a team due to the lack of time together. The teams practice the night before each game, but it’s not the same as the college ranks when players see each other on a daily basis. They develop a culture and a chemistry from consistent practice, workouts and games.
Charlotte general manager Wade Leaphart has helped erase any chemistry questions by selecting players who are familiar with each other. That allows the Hounds to worry about more specifics and fine-tuning since many of them know each other’s tendencies. Other MLL teams have players who played together in college, but not to the extent of the Hounds.
Charlotte was 5-9 in its first season in 2012 then 7-7 last year which included a semifinal upset over the Outlaws. So far in 2014, the Hounds are 2-4, but moved just one game out of a playoff spot with their win over Denver last weekend.
The team’s chemistry is evident when looking at statistics. No one player is dominating. The Hounds are a team. Haus and Ryan Young lead the Hounds with 10 points apiece while five others have six or more points. Faceoff specialist Tim Fallon along with defenseman Ryan Flanagan each have 25 groundballs while Adam Ghitelman is the starter in goal, owning a 50.6 save percentage. He made 12 saves in the win over Denver.
Charlotte defeated the Outlaws by three (17-14) in last year’s MLL Semifinals before its 18-15 victory last weekend. Last summer, Charlotte used an 8-2 first quarter to jump out to a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, while this time, the Hounds’ best quarter came in the fourth. In the end, the result was the same, a three-point victory against a team that has established itself as the model MLL franchise.
I am speculating about the team’s strategy and assuming it’s done intentionally. Regardless on intent, it seems to be working. Talent means nothing without chemistry. The Hounds have both and will be a dangerous team coming down the stretch of the 2014 season looking for their second straight playoff berth.
