Edwards Excels Again as Hartford Blank Loudoun United 3-0
A dominant performance earned the Latics their second Championship win of the season
Manager Brendan Burke’s first reaction to Hartford’s 3-0 win over Loudoun United was relief, as the club won for only the second time in the 2025 USL Championship season.
“Finally, a performance translates to goals,” he said. “Uh, clean sheet. I mean, I thought it should have been four or five nothing at halftime..I mean the guys put in a performance that could have earned us a five or six goal win. And that's that's just a proud moment. You know, when we're dealing with adversity the way we have.”
It was a true turnaround on the field, with the Latics being credited with an expected goals of 5.69 (by American Soccer Analysis), more than three and a half goals better than any previous performance by this team this season, and more than two goals better than any performance by any USL Championship team in a league game in 2025. It was the best performance by expected goals by any Championship team since 2021, and the third-best since ASA’s data collection began in 2017. Better finishing is still necessary, but it was another marked improvement, and hinted that the best version of this team — if they can find some consistency — might be entirely different than what’s been on offer so far.
There was also a turnaround in the stands, with last weekend’s silent protest from The Bonanza giving way to a bumper crowd that was in full voice throughout the fixture, with Burke acknowledging the fans and their support as making “all the difference in the world” on Friday night.
The win was the Latics’ first victory over Loudoun since the first meeting of the 2023 season, and Mamadou Dieng’s opener was the first goal that Hartford has put past the Northern Virginia club since the return fixture of that season.
It was the visitors who had slightly the better of the opening exchanges on Friday night, playing much more on the Hartford side of the pitch. There were some glimpses of an opening for both sides in this stretch of the game, but it was marked more by hard tackles, with Loudoun’s Ben Mines ultimately earning a yellow card for his trouble.
Loudoun had some warnings on the counter attack and made to pay in the 16th minute. Michee Ngalina was played into space, and after his initial shot was saved by Hugo Faroux and his follow-up was blocked by Keegan Tingey Emmanuel Samadia arrived to chip the ball to the back post for Mamadou Dieng to finish easily to open the scoring. The goal was Dieng’s 16th in all competitions for Hartford moving him into sole possession of second place on the all-time club scoring list, behind only Danny Barrera and his fifth of the season, making him the fourth player in club history to score at least five goals in two different seasons.
The Latics thought they had added a second goal in the 35th minute. The ball was in the back of the net but the officials raised their flag for offside. Kyle Edwards headed the ball towards goal, and Dieng was judged to have touched the ball in an offside position, but on replay it seemed that he had not done so, and the goal perhaps should have stood.
Hartford did finally go two goals to the good and the 42nd minute, with Edwards converting from the penalty spot. Samuel Careaga’s shot from outside the box was handled by Loudoun’s Florian Valot, and a penalty was awarded. Edwards buried the penalty but was required to retake it after the official spotted another Hartford player encroaching as Edwards completed his run-up. The re-take proved no problem, as Edwards calmly put the ball in the same spot and the Latics had a 2-0 lead.
It was truly all Hartford in the first half, as they outshot Loudoun 14 to 3, and it was easily the best half of football this team has played in the 2025 season. In fact, given the quality of the opposition on Friday night, it might be one of the best halves of football Hartford has ever played in any competition.
Loudon made three changes at halftime and came out on the front foot, taking three shots in the early going and forcing Antony Siaha to be alert to the danger to snuff out some opportunities inside the penalty area.
Despite this it was again the Latics who scored, adding to their lead in the 57th minute, with Edwards again the man on the spot. After a free kick, the forward had his first effort saved by Faroux, but the rebound fell kindly and he made no mistake at the second time of asking. The brace takes Edwards onto five goals for the 2025 season as well, and he becomes the fifth player in club history to score at least five goals in two different seasons and the first to do so in non-consecutive seasons, having scored seven in 2023. It also took Edwards onto 15 goals for his Hartford career, level with Prince Saydee and Juan Carlos Obregon for third all time.
The game did somewhat tilt back towards Loudoun following the third goal but it was unable to manufacture much in the way the serious threat to Siaha’s goal, and Hartford continued to be dangerous on the counter-attack. Adewale Obalola, Jonathan Jimenez, Dieng, Ngalina and even Jordan Scarlett drove into the box, but nobody could quite find the right ball to add to the tally, and the score remained 3-nil when the final whistle blew.
It was a desperately needed result for a Hartford team that have been basement dwellers in the Eastern Conference for much of the 2025 season, and enough to lift them off the bottom of the table pending Tampa Bay Rowdies’ visit to Pittsburgh on Saturday. It also should give the team confidence ahead of a critical USL Jägermeister Cup game against Detroit City in a week’s time, as the Latics look to make waves in that competition.