The Hounds went up to Erie last night and took care of business, defeating the Erie Commodores 2-1. Besides securing the victory they also got the Open Cup road loss monkey (or parrot if we’re going to stick with cliche nautical things) off their back. Two early-ish goals was all the boys needed though it wasn’t as comfortable as maybe we hoped. Giving up a goal right before the half is never good, but fortunately the Hounds locked it down in the second half and kept it from being a momentum changer.

I ended up having to listen to the “radio” for most of the game so I don’t have much to say on how well the team looked. Quick aside: how awesome was it to have that option? I have no idea what the logistics would be, but a home audio stream at away games would be awesome. At any rate it was interesting to see Lilley didn’t roll out as many bench players as I would have expected. For the most part it was all guys we regularly see in league play. Perhaps that just shows how seriously Lilley is taking the tournament, which is A-OK in my book. Still, there’s a balancing act to it all as we will now have 4 games (including last night) in the next 11 days. Hopefully legs won’t be too tired when they head down to Tampa on Saturday.

The Hounds return home for the next round of the US Open Cup on Wednesday the 23rd. FC Cincinnati will be coming to town after making it past Detroit in extra time last night. It’ll be a tough one, but with the way the Hounds are playing and with the draw we got off of them earlier in the season, I’m feeling pretty good about moving on. The 4th round opponent is TBD but will probably be an MLS squad. As history shows, for posterity sake it’ll be big for the Hounds to get past Cincy. Kick off will be at 7. The Hounds should be releasing ticket information within the next day or two.

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DON’T FORGET we’re going to be back at Smokin’ Joes for a watch party on Saturday. Party starts at 6. Kick off at 7:30. You must be 21+ and over to attend.

#UNLEASH