Hartford Announce Signing of 2023 Player's Shield-Winning Defender
A second New England club's defense will be led by a Farrell.
Hartford Athletic announced Monday the signing of 29-year-old defender Joe Farrell, who comes to the Constitution State after spending the better part of a decade across stints with three separate clubs in the USL Championship.
Farrell most recently spent 2023 with Eastern Conference side Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, making 30 appearances in the most successful campaign in the Hounds’ history. He scored three goals for Pittsburgh last season as a mainstay in the starting lineup, helping the club to the first piece of silverware in their history in the 2023 USL Championship Player’s Shield.
The Riverhounds finished finishing 19-5-10, claiming the second-highest point total in their history (67) and clinching the Shield with a week to spare.
The memorable year was also highlighted by a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal run that featured a 1-0 win for the Hounds’ against Bruce Arena’s New England Revolution — one of two MLS teams they would overcome on the historic run, and their first such win since 2001. Farrell played 146 across two appearances, including 56 against New England.
A product of La Salle University and the New York Red Bulls Academy, Farrell began his professional career in 2016 with then-defending USL champions Rochester Rhinos FC. He made 68 appearances for the now-dissolved club in two seasons, scoring six goals and helping lead the Rhinos to a pair of Eastern Conference Semifinals before the organization eventually announced a three-year hiatus.
Following the 2017 announcement, the defender made the move to Western Conference side Phoenix Rising FC, where his longest single-club stretch saw him make clock almost 10,000 appearances in 127 appearance across five seasons. The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania native scored eight goals and notched five assists in an extremely successful stretch for the decorated USL Championship side, helping them to a pair of Western Conference Championships (2018, 2020) as well as a Regular Season Championship in 2019. He eventually made the move to Pittsburgh following a disappointing 2022 season that saw Pheonix miss out on the playoffs for the first time in their history.
Farrell is the fifth new signing of the young offseason for the Green and Blue. He joins defender Thomas Vancaeyezeele, midfielder Emmanuel Samadia, midfielder Jay Chapman and goalkeeper Renan Ribeiro as the current new additions for Hartford in the offseason. Danny Barrera is the only confirmed returner, while the search for a head coach is still ongoing.