Hartford Athletic Down Rhode Island FC on Penalties, Advance to USL Jägermeister Cup Quarter-finals
The win was the first penalty shootout victory in club history - as well as the first win over local rivals RIFC
Hartford Athletic fought back from down a goal and a man in the second half to claim their first penalty shootout win in club history in USL Jägermeister Cup action on Saturday night in Pawtucket. The bonus point for the shootout win — and the two goals they scored along the way — were enough for the Latics to claim the second wildcard spot and advance to the quarterfinals, where they will play San Antonio FC on August 20.
The first major moment of the game came inside half an hour, when Beverly Makangile picked up two yellow cards inside six minutes, reducing the visitors to 10 men with more than an hour to go. For Makangila — who was making his 67th appearance in all competitions for the club, drawing him level with Prince Saydee for fourth all-time — it was also his third sending off, the most for any player in club history.
Despite being down a man, it was Hartford who took the lead, with TJ Presthus getting his second goal of the season — and one that should almost certainly be nominated for Goal of the Week — in first-half stoppage time. A Sebastian Anderson corner was flicked on at the near post by Joe Farrell, and Presthus nailed an acrobatic overhead kick over the head of Jackson Lee and into the back of the net.
Rhode Island grabbed the equalizer right out of the break, with Amos Shapiro-Thompson’s effort from outside of the box taking a wicked deflection that left Antony Siaha stranded.
Hartford —who knew they needed a win in regulation to win the group and guarantee their spot in the quarterfinals pressed forward and had some half-decent looks at goal but could not find a breakthrough with.
The hosts took the lead in the 77th minute when Adrián Diz Pe fouled Albert Dikwa in the box. After Siaha was booked for dissent, Maxi Rodriguez stepped up and fired the penalty past the Hartford keeper to give RIFC their first lead on the night.
It seemed that RIFC would top the group and eliminate Hartford from the competition in the process but the Latics had one more trick of their sleeve. Diz Pe — who had been at fault for the penalty — redeemed himself with a well-taken shot in the 83rd minute to level the scores. Mamadou Dieng did well to keep the ball along the left-hand side and when he drove into the box, his cross found the arriving Diz Pe who took his chance well to beat Jackson Lee and give the Latics another lifeline.
Per the competition regulations, with the scores level at the end of regulation the teams went immediately to a penalty shootout. Because of the points structure, RIFC had won the group with the single point earned for the draw in regulation which took them to 10 points while Hartford could at best hope to move to nine. The shootout still held plenty of intrigue for the Latics, however, as the bonus point from winning the penalty shootout would take them to nine points which would likely be enough to place them in contention for one of the two wildcard spots and their nine goals in the competition would also position them well in the tiebreaker.
The Latics had never won on penalties, missing several efforts in their two previous attempts this season, firstly in a U.S. Open Cup loss to Portland Hearts of Pine and secondly in a Jägermeister Cup loss to Detroit City FC. This time, however, they kept their nerve, with Farrell, Diz Pe, Dieng and Kyle Edwards all converting from the spot while Rhode Island missed twice in their first five attempts, giving Hartford a critical bonus point in the chase for the quarter-finals.
As the second wild card, Hartford Athletic will travel to San Antonio who were the winners of Group 2, for their quarterfinal matchup. The quarterfinal will be sandwiched into a busy week for the Latics, as it will be bookended by home games against FC Tulsa and RIFC.
Hartford Athletic are back in action on Wednesday night, as they host New Mexico United in USL Championship action, with the game kicking off at 8 PM at Trinity Health Stadium.