Hartford Athletic Drop Regular Season Finale in Louisville
A disappointing end to the regular season costs the Latics a home playoff game
Hartford Athletic were completely outclassed by Louisville City on Saturday night, losing by a score of 1-0 in a game that rarely felt that close. The loss, combined with a win for North Carolina FC and a draw for Pittsburgh Riverhounds, extinguished the Latics’ hopes of a home playoff game and they will now travel to Highmark Stadium to take on Pittsburgh in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Louisville, playing knowing that a win would see them set a single-season points-per-game record, were entirely on another level from Hartford, who struggled to find any way to trouble City keeper Damian Las. While City are certainly the elite of the league, it was a disappointingly blunt effort from Hartford with the playoffs looming, and their road form, which had recently been excellent, has suddenly turned somewhat sour with the club dropping back-to-back road games to close out the season.
The first half of the game was marred by lingering rain, but Louisville took the initiative regardless, outshooting Hartford 6-0 over the first 45 minutes and claiming the only goal in the 40th minute. Aiden McFadden whipped in a cross from the right-hand side of the Louisville attack, and while John Berner was equal to Philip Goodrum’s first effort, he could only parry it back into the forward’s path, and the City striker made no mistake at the second time of asking.
It was only a little better after half-time, with City well on top. Goodrum probably should have had a hat-trick — going close twice in the second half — and Louisville continued to be the protagonists of the game, with Hartford not managing an attempt on goal until the 73rd minute, and ultimately being outshot 16-5 in the second half.
The Latics did manage a few decent efforts over the last quarter of an hour and stoppage time — Samuel Careaga shooting just over and Michee Ngalina being denied by Las from close range with the last kick of the game the best of their chances — but it still wasn’t much to write home about for Brendan Burke’s men. After a long run of good performances, even when the results haven’t always gone their way, it was the first truly dire performance for Hartford since early June.
It’s a disappointing end to the regular season — and shows how far Hartford still have to go to regularly match up against teams like Louisville — but Brendan Burke’s men will need to dust themselves off and get ready for another road game in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The matchup is a tantalizing one, as they will take on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in a game at Highmark Stadium. The last meeting between the two clubs was enveloped in controversy, and Pittsburgh coach Bob Lilley has also subsequently been placed on administrative leave, although it is not believed that the two events are connected.
If Saturday’s game was a dry-run for the playoffs, as Brendan Burke suggested on Thursday, it’s to be hoped that Hartford approaches the knockout games with a different mentality. It might already have silverware in the trophy cupboard in 2025 — and the season must be counted a success regardless of what is to come — but fans will be hoping that this does not foreshadow an early exit from the playoffs next weekend.
Hartford ran into a buzzsaw in Lou City. Going to Pittsburgh is no easy task, but they're beatable, but the they need to be on the front too early.