FLASHBACK: Jose Angulo Scores First-Ever Goal at Dillon Stadium in 2-1 Win
FLASHBACK: Jose Angulo Scores First-Ever Goal at Dillon Stadium in 2-1 Win
Hartford Athletic officially celebrate their fifth season this year
On July 13, 2019, a renovated Trinity Health Stadium (formerly know as Dillon Stadium) re-opened it’s doors to Connecticut’s brand new professional soccer team in its inaugural season, after numerous lengthy delays.
Having played their first nine games on the road, and their opening home games at the University of Connecticut’s Rentschler Field due to construction delays, a Hartford Athletic team who went winless through the first ten matches of their history were hungry for a taste of their own place to call home.
That day finally came midway through the 2019 USL Championship season, where the stage was set for a long-awaited homecoming for a Hartford team in search of only their second win of the year. Led by former Sporting Kansas City Goalkeeping legend Jimmy Nielson, they were welcomed by a sellout crowd of 5,500, who packed the stands in Hartford as the team prepared to host a top-three Indy Eleven side.
The task was not easy: with almost no momentum to work with and sitting bottom of the conference, put on a performance against one of the East’s best at home. The team and its fans were hungry for an elusive win coming into the match, with their only other result coming from a scrappy 2-1 win at Audi Field against Loudoun United just weeks prior.
Whether it was the momentum of the occasion, or the roar of the home fans for he first time, a new-look Hartford team came to play. They went on to stun Indy with an upset win, much to the delight of the Hartford faithful who had waited almost two years for the moment.
After a stalemate in the opening hour had nerves on the rise, the historic moment eventually came in the 58th minute. After a long wait, USL Championship veteran Jose Angulo scored Hartford's first-ever goal at their new game to give the Green and Blue a shock lead against Indy Eleven, slotting a low shot past the keeper to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
The man with the vision to send Angulo in behind with a perfectly-weighted through ball was none other than Danny Barrera, who currently stands as the last remaining member of the inaugural 2019 squad who still plays for Hartford more than five years later.
Things got even better for Hartford when Wojciech Wojcik doubled the lead just 14 minutes later, sitting down a defender in the box before firing a rocket into the to left corner to double the Green and Blue’s advantage.
Indy did manage to pull a goal back from the spot in the dying minutes, but Hartford ultimately held on for what ended up being a historic win, one that Hartford fans will remember fondly as one of only eight they managed in 2019 where they eventually failed to make the playoffs.
Five years later, Hartford fans can only reminisce for the feeling of winning at home, something they have only managed once in 2023.