Hartford Athletic Hammer RIFC To Cap Busy Week

No Momo, no problem as the Latics romp in El Clamico with goals from Careaga, Edwards, and debutante Owen Presthus

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

Hartford Athletic cruised past Rhode Island FC on Saturday night, winning 3-0 at Trinity Health Stadium in a game that saw the club honor record goalscorer Mamadou Dieng ahead of his departure to MLS side Minnesota United. On the pitch, the Latics demonstrated that even without their all-time leading goalscorer, they are still a force to be reckoned with as they drubbed their local rivals and claimed key points in the race for the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Brendan Burke handed a professional debut to Owen Presthus on Saturday night, as well as rare starts for Adewale Obalola, Samuel Careaga and Baboucarr Njie. These decisions largely paid off, with Presthus and Careaga on the scoresheet and Presthus arguably the man of the match as well as a fine performance from Obalola as he looks to help fill the void left by the departure of Dieng.

The Latics struck early with Careaga getting his third goal of the season and first in the USL Championship in the fifth minute. After Obalola controlled the ball in the box and leathered a shot that Rhode Island keeper Koke Vegas could only parry, Careaga was first to the loose ball and fired it into the back of the net to give his side the lead.

RIFC did have a few chances — and JJ Williams should perhaps have done better with a few free headers — but they had no shots on target throughout the first 45 minutes, despite bossing possession. The visitors had 65% of the ball, but managed only four touches in the Hartford box, as they struggled to find many meaningful opportunities against a resolute Latics defense.

In the second half, Rhode Island had even more of the ball — nearly 70% — but it was once again Hartford that knew what to do with it, as it had the better chances, and ultimately doubled the lead through substitute Kyle Edwards, who bagged his 10th goal off the bench in his USL Championship career.

A long ball from Jordan Scarlett bounced awkwardly, with both Edwards and Michee Ngalina trying to latch onto it. Ngalina selflessly held off a Rhode Island defender, allowing Edwards to run into space and fire the ball past Vegas. It was Edwards’ fifth goal as a substitute this season, more than any other player in the league and ties Wojciech Wojcik’s 2019 campaign for the most goals off the bench in a single season in club history.

Things went from bad to worse for RIFC 85th minute when Aldair Sanchez was sent off for the denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Rhode Island had a throw-in in a promising position, but a long clearance from Emmanuel Samadia suddenly tilted the pitch in the opposite direction, as Ngalina shrugged off Marc Ybarra and looked set to burst bast Sanchez and go one-on-one with Koke Vegas - but the Rhode Island defender stuck out his arm to send the winger sprawling, and earned himself a red card in the process.

The card took a little sting out of the game and all but killed any chance of an RIFC fightback - but things went from “worse” to “even worse” for the visitors in the 89th minute, when Owen Presthus burst through their defense to record a debut goal and put the game beyond all doubt. Sebastian Anderson played the ball forward, and Edwards headed it into the path of an onrushing Presthus, who steamed into open space and fired past a helpless Vegas to make the scoreline 3-nil and put the game to bed.

It was the cherry on top of a tumultuous — but excellent — week for Hartford Athletic. A draw against Western Conference leaders FC Tulsa, followed by a comprehensive 2-0 win over San Antonio FC in the Jâgermeister Cup, the sale of Mamadou Dieng to Minnesota United, and now a thrashing of rivals RIFC to cap things off.

Hartford now have a short respite before traveling south to take on North Carolina FC in what will be the first of five games in 15 days, a crucial stretch that will see the club not only try to maintain their playoff position in the Eastern Conference, but also advance to the finals of the USL Jägermeister Cup when they take on Greenville Triumph.