There was no sell-out at Falcni Field on this night. Maybe that was a good thing, considering the hounds 4-0 loss to Charlotte, in the first of their 2-game series aggregate in the USLD2 semifinals.
The Eagles, in their white with Blue and Orange trim, wasted no time taking a 1-0 lead when Ben Meek beat hounds goalkeeper Terry McNelis with a header of a corner kick by Dustin Swineheart in only the 2nd minute.
Athough the hounds had chances, they could not get anything by cageminder Dan Benton.
In the meantime, they were fortunate to be down by only one at the half, when it could have easily been 4-0, which turned out to be the final.
Charlotte scored 3 second half goals, which began in the 59th when Jacob Coggins set up Josh Rife, before Taurai Daka assisted on a goal by Andriy Budnyy, which seemed to beat McNelis inside the left post.
Adam Ruud, a second half substitute, finalized things in the 86th from Ben Johnson.
The hounds, who wore their Red shirts and black shorts, need at least 4 goals to stay alive in the series, 5 to win.
Both teams ended with 20 shots, Benton had10 saves to 8 for McNelis. The hounds had 17 fouls to 7 for the Eagles, who were offsides 9 to the hounds 1. And the hounds finished with 6 corner kicks to 3 for Charlotte.
The series finishes in Charlotte on Saturday(7).
