Hartford Athletic Continue Slow Start, Lose to El Paso Locomotive at Home
The Latics are still in search of their first point in the 2025 season
Hartford Athletic’s early season stumbles continued on a cold and breezy day at Trinity Health Stadium as the Latics dropped their 2025 USL Championship home opener to visitors El Paso Locomotive by a score of 2-1.
The Latics went behind early when an initial clearance following a free kick, Eric Calvillo took a long-range shot that deflected off a Hartford defender and fell to the feet of Roberto Avila. The Locomotive forward took a couple of touches and then easily curled the ball past Antony Siaha to give the visitors the lead.
While Hartford did produce some decent moments going forward, it was unable to find quite the right ball in the final third, with Locomotive defenders alert to the danger and snuffing out the Latics attacking moves. The home side did not manage a shot on goal until nearly a half hour had passed and immediately found the back of the net. Michee Ngalina evaded pressure down the right hand side and slid the ball through to Jonathan Jimenez, who put a good ball across the face of goal for Mamadou Dieng to poke home from just a few yards out. It was Dieng’s 13th goal in all competitions for the Latics; he currently sits fourth on the all-time scorers list for the club.
There was very little meaningful attacking activity by either side after that point, and by the 85th minute, the two clubs had combined for only three further attempts on goal. It was the visitors, however, who finally struck again when Wahab Ackwei turned the ball in from a corner in the 86th minute, with the assist coming from former Latic Gabi Torres.
The game was truthfully not much to write home about for either side, with the two teams combining for only nine shots on the day while being whistled for a total of 36 fouls. A neutral viewer might well have sought another form of entertainment.
Hartford manager Brendan Burke did not mince words after the game, saying it was “a really poor performance by pretty much everyone involved,” and emphasized his side’s inability to move the ball as well as a lack of sharpness in every phase of the game.
With three games gone in the Championship season, the Latics are still searching for their first point and now face a difficult week as they first travel to Maine to take on Portland Hearts of Pine in the U.S. Open Cup and then turn around to head to Virginia for a matchup with Loudoun United, who are flying high in the early going.
Burke welcomed the chance to get back on the pitch soon, saying that he was “glad that we're playing again on short notice because we need to wash this away and get that winning feeling back,” but turning that sentiment into action will still be a challenge, as Hartford have struggled on the road generally and have not won away against Loudoun since 2021.