Ex-Hounds take lead in 14-10 upset

Matt Danowski and Peet Poillon made a successful Major League Lacrosse return to Memorial Stadium on Sunday.

Unfortunately, that success came to the benefit of the Charlotte Hounds’ opponent.

Danowski and Poillon – both former Hounds stars – accounted for more than half of the Chesapeake Bayhawks’ goals Sunday during their 14-10 victory over Charlotte.

Danowski scored two goals and assisted on three others, and Poillon had two goals and two assists for the Bayhawks (3-1), who climbed to second in the MLL standings.

“I tried to take the emotion out of it, tried to look at this as just another game,” said Danowski, who had 76 goals in three seasons with the Hounds before being traded to Chesapeake before the 2015 season.

“But to come out here and perform, doing what Coach (Dave) Cottle needed me to do, which was kind of quarterback the offense, it was a fun experience.”

Josh Dionne and Michael Erhardt had two goals apiece for the Hounds (1-3), which Erhardt scoring Charlotte’s first 2-point goal of the season in the fourth quarter.

But the Hounds started off in a 4-0 hole in the first quarter, thanks to two goals each by Chesapeake’s Jack Rice and Matt Mackrides. Charlotte managed to pull within 8-6 midway through the third quarter, but the Bayhawks responded with five straight goals to put the game away.

The Hounds actually had the advantage on face-offs for the third time in four games, with Brendan Fowler taking 19 of 27 faceoffs.

But Charlotte hurt itself with turnovers – 17 in all, 10 coming in the second half.

“Defensively, we’ve done a great job ... but offensively, we’ve got to work at it,” said Hounds midfielder John Haus, who had a goal and assist. “Turnovers, poor shots … little things like that have hurt us this year, and it’s shown on the scoreboard.”

Worth mentioning

Mackrides finished with three goals for the Bayhawks, all assisted by Danowski. … Jake Tripucka had a goal and two assists for Charlotte, with Mike Sawyer, Terry Kimener and Brett Schmidt all adding goals for the Hounds.

What’s next?

The Hounds go on the road for their first night game, taking on the Ohio Machine on Saturday. ... The Bayhawks play the second match in a three-game road trip on Saturday against the New York Lizards.

This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Ex-Hounds take lead in 14-10 upset."