By @SAdyson

Noun: The elevation of someone to divine status; deification.

What a statement by Jason Kutney. Instead of going down into the locker room to give the boys a pep-talk before the match, he suited up and joined the Hounds on the pitch against the LA Blues.

Tweets back and forth between myself and Chris DeVivo, media guy for the Highmark, at the beginning of April:

Definitely a leader.

Even though the Hounds didn’t bring back a win from their westward excursion, they at least brought back 2 points. The announcer on USL Live kept commenting on how the defense looked more “compact,” and it showed in the fact that the Hounds made the LA Blues–who currently sit at 2nd on the table–look quite ordinary.

FIRST HALF

9′ Blues send a shot sailing over the Hounds’ net.

17′ Hounds trying a bit of “dink” and “dunk” into the LA Blues’ zone, with no success.

21′ Rob Vincent rips one from about 25 yards out, but it is punched out by the LA goal keeper.

32′ Dallman called offside, third time this game the Hounds have been called offside.

38′ Gilstrap just bodyslammed someone on the LA Blues off the CK.

43′ Flunder with another clutch clearance in the penalty area, to save a scoring opportunity.

SECOND HALF

48′ Corner kick for LA Blues off of a diving Hunter save.

53′ Dallman almost gets it to Anuglo inside the box, but he gets swarmed by Blues’ defenders.

63′ Marshall slides and prevents the Blues’ from breaking away into the penalty box.

69′ Spitz sends a shot off the left post, and Hunter is singing its praises…

79′ Andrew Marshall saves ANOTHER break-away by Spitz with a perfectly-timed slide tackle.

Anddd…the feed died.

NOTES:

• It’s becoming more and more apparent that Richie Costanzo is the weakest link in the defense. Time after time on Sunday, he was allowing opposing midfielders and forwards to cross the ball. Is it time to start looking back to Anthony Vazquez, the defender we acquired in the offseason from the Puerto Rico Isladers? Yes, he did have a bad red card against Charlotte, but it’s been several games since then.
• Flunder was everywhere in the penalty area last night. He allowed very few finishing opportunities playing next to Andrew Marshall on the inside. Marshall also had several clutch slide tackles inside and outside the penalty area to deny LA scoring opportunities. The two defenders seem to play well together in the inside.
• It is clear Matt Dallman and Jose Angulo are beginning to develop some serious chemistry, but Angulo still looks lost at time on the field. Sometimes, he tries to do too much, and sometimes he is not where he is supposed to be on the tail end of a scoring opportunity. If both Dallman and Angulo can start clicking, however–watch out.

#UNLEASH