While the Charlotte Hounds came within a game of winning the Major League Lacrosse championship last season, Hounds management didn’t consider their work done.
With the Hounds opening their season April 26 against the Ohio Machine at Charlotte’s American Legion Memorial Stadium, they’ve made moves that general manager Wade Leaphart and coach Mike Cerino hope will get them to the next level.
Most of last year’s starting lineup—which finished 7-7 and beat the undefeated Denver Outlaws in the MLL semifinals—is back, save for two players: midfielder Peet Poillon, traded to the Chesapeake Bayhawks; and defenseman Joe Cinosky, sitting out the season after taking a coaching job at Mount St. Mary’s.
The rest of Charlotte’s starters are back, led by team co-captains Matt Danowski and Adan Ghitelman. Danowski, an all-MLL pick as an attacker last season, led the Hounds in goals (33, including six two-pointers) and total points (49), while goalkeeper Ghitelman was fifth in the league in goals per game average (12.10).
Also back for the Hounds are attackers Eric Lusby, Mike Sawyer and Ryan Young; faceoff specialists Tim Fallon and Geoff Snider; midfielders Casey Cittadino, Kevin Drew, John Haus, Josh Hawkins, Chris Schiller, Jake Tripucka and Matt White; and defenders Ryan Flanagan, Michael McCormack, Mason Poli and Brett Schmidt.
The Hounds made just one trade aquisition during the offseason, getting attacker Joe Cummings Jr. from the Machine. Cummings, a 20-goal scorer last season, should help make up some of the scoring production lost with Poillon’s trade.
The rest of Charlotte’s 40-man preseason roster was filled out through MLL’s supplemental draft. The Hounds had 14 picks over 12 rounds, and wound up grabbing four players with previous MLL experience: defender Jake Smith (one season), goalkeeper Mike Gabel (eight seasons), and midfielders Anthony Biscardi (two seasons) and Peter Mezzanote (two seasons).
The Hounds will also see variations in their starting lineup for the first several weeks, with four players—Danowski, Ghitelman, Haus and Poli—possibly missing games because of their college coaching duties. Snider will also be a late addition, as he is currently playing in the indoor National Lacrosse League.
Of course, the real shakeup in Charlotte’s lineup will occur after the NCAA playoffs. The Hounds had a league-high 11 picks in the 2014 MLL collegiate draft, and at least seven—Maryland defender Michael Ehrhardt, Loyola midfielder Pat Laconi, Maryland midfielder Mike Chanenchuk, Duke faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler, Towson attacker/midfielder Tom DeNapoli, Duke attacker Josh Dionne and Loyola attacker Justin Ward—are considered “MLL-ready” right now.
Last year’s rookie class—primarily Sawyer, Haus, Tripucka, White and Poli—had a big impact during the second half of the 2013 MLL season. This year’s newcomers—who won’t be available until mid-May at the earliest—could have a similar impact.
