A new franchise record was made by new-Hound Ryan Young, but Charlotte couldn’t beat the Rochester Rattlers in back to back weeks. The Rattlers defeated the Hounds 13-10 in front of a loud American Legion Memorial Stadium. Ryan Young set a new franchise record with seven goals against Rochester and also added an assist. Last week in Rochester, the Hounds were able to defeat the Rattlers 14-8, but couldn’t get it done this week at home. Attackman Ned Crotty led the way for Rochester; scoring seven points (3g, 4a) despite aggravating his ankle late in the game.
This could definitely be considered Ryan Young’s “breakout” game with the Hounds. Charlotte traded for Young during the offseason, a move which sent Stephen Berger back home to New York. Young had been pretty quiet in the first two games of the season, but came out firing early and often on Saturday night in front of a good Charlotte crowd. Matt Danowski added a goal and an assist in his return game from duties with the Duke Blue Devil lacrosse team. The other two Hounds adding goals were attackman Brian Carroll and face-off specialist Tim Fallon. Fallon won 44% of his face-offs during the night and defenseman Brett Schmidt won both of the face-offs he took. In cage for Charlotte, Adam Ghitelman stopped 10 of 23 shots to end his night with a 43% save rate.
Opposite Ghitelman, Rochester goalie John Galloway seemed to have figured out the Hounds shooters, as he stopped 11 of 21 shots on goal to give him a 52% save percentage. Jordan MacIntosh had a big night behind Crotty, scoring four goals against the Hounds defense. Midfielder Matt Striebel added a hat trick for the Rattlers. Former Blue Devil defender Mike Manley also added a goal, as did Mike and Kevin Leveille. Face-off specialist won just over half of his face-offs (14 of 27) to give him a 52% win and won many key battles late in the game to hold off the Hounds.
Next Saturday the Hounds will have to travel to Canada to take on the suddenly hot Hamilton Nationals (2-0). The Nationals defeated Paul Rabil and the Cannons in the second week of the season, and beat the New York Lizards 12-11 on Saturday the 11th. For Crotty and the Rattlers, they also travel to take on an undefeated team in Denver against the (3-0) Outlaws. Denver also beat Charlotte at home, in week one; beat the Ohio Machine on the road finished their three game road-streak with a win against the Cannons.
