CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Despite only scoring two goals in the fourth quarter, the Hounds defense held off the Rattlers’ late-game offensive onslaught to prevail, 13-12, and improve to 2-0 on the season.
With less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Dallas’ Ty Thompson scored and pulled the Rattlers within one point. Rattlers’ faceoff specialist Drew Simoneau won the ensuing faceoff, but was immediately stripped by defender Michael Ehrhardt. The defender recovered the ground ball, allowing Charlotte to maintain possession and run out the time remaining.
For the majority of the game, both teams traded goals. While the Rattlers quickly jumped out to 3-1 lead early in the first quarter thanks to three consecutive goals from Thompson, the Hounds responded with three unanswered goals of their own.
After exiting halftime, 7-7, Charlotte outscored Dallas 4-2 in the third quarter. Rookies Kieran Eissler and Dylan Maltz combined for the team’s four third quarter goals, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the outcome.
Photo courtesy of the Charlotte Hounds
“It was awesome getting back out here, especially playing with Matty (Rambo),” Maltz said. “I missed playing with him and I missed playing in general.”
Rattlers’ Jordan Wolf and Thompson controlled the scoring for the Rattlers in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t overcome Charlie Cipriano’s strong presence in goal. The goalie tallied 21 saves on 33 shots.
The Hounds return to Memorial Stadium, Thursday, May 3 to host the Chesapeake Bayhawks for the final game of the season-opening three-game home stand.
Stars of the game:
Charlie Cipriano (Charlotte): Recorded 21 saves on 33 shots in four quarters of action. Finished with a 63 percent save percentage.
Dylan Maltz (Charlotte): In his first career game with the Hounds, the rookie tallied a team high four goals on five shots.
Ty Thompson (Dallas): Scored a game-high five goals, three of which gave the Rattlers their largest lead of the game midway through the first quarter.
Notables:
Despite starting the season 21-of-34 from the X, Kevin Massa struggled against the Rattlers, winning only 10-28 faceoffs.
The Hounds 13-12 victory marks the fourth time they’ve defeated the Rattlers in franchise history and first since the team relocated to Dallas. With the win, they extended their win streak to two games over the Rattlers.
In their first career game for the Hounds, Maltz and Eissler combined for five goals. Maltz led the team in scoring with four goals.
The Hound’s win marks only the second time in franchise history that Charlotte has started the season 2-0. The Hounds began the 2016 season 3-0 before falling to the New York Lizards 21-18 in Week 4.
Attacker Matt Rambo finished with a game-high five assists and added two goals.
What they said:
Head coach Jim Stagnitta on his team’s 13-12 win: “We had to use a lot of different people in a lot of different positions and situations and honestly we just got tired down the stretch. I thought we played a good third quarter, the guys made the right adjustments, but overall I am just happy to get out of here with a win. We needed to jump out early in the season because I don’t know what our lineup will look like the next two games.”
Stagnitta on what he saw from his team and what it means to be 2-0: “I see a lot of grit. I see a lot of toughness. They care. Tonight was just all about hanging in there and they did. It was pretty at times but they made the plays when they needed to make the plays.”
Attacker Ryan Brown on the win: “It’s huge. The last couple of years we have started off the season poorly without having guys but today we had six offensive guys out there and four didn’t have names on the back of their jerseys and we were still able to get the win. With the weather last night, we weren’t able to practice, people have jobs, it’s a Friday game, so it was pretty much roll the ball out there and just play.”
