Hartford Athletic Still Trying to Build Momentum, Host Miami FC
The Latics are bottom of the table, but well positioned to leap into the playoff places with the right result
Hartford Athletic look to continue their momentum from a 4-0 drubbing of New Mexico United, as they welcome The Miami FC to Trinity Health Stadium on Wednesday night. Pending the results of Rhode Island’s midweek game against Detroit City, a victory for the Latics could see them leapfrog into eighth place in the Eastern Conference and into the playoff places for the first time in the 2025 season.
Last week’s dominant win over New Mexico was powered by a brace from Mamoudou Dieng — who earned USL Championship Player of the Week honors for his efforts — as well as strong performances from Michee Ngalina and Emmanuel Samadia and a goalscoring cameo from Kyle Edwards. If it were not for the timely intervention of the goalpost and a couple of great saves from New Mexico netminder Alex Tambakis, the scoreline could have been even more lopsided.
Dieng became Hartford’s all-time leading scorer last week, with 19 goals in all competitions. With two more tallies on the 2025 season, he would become the first Latic to score 10 goals in two different seasons.
Not far behind Dieng is Kyle Edwards, who after his goal last week is scoring at an incredible clip of a goal every 151 minutes for his career with Hartford. Only Ariel Martinez, who scored 9 goals in 1,111 minutes in 2022 (121 minutes/goal), and Jack Panayotou, who has 2 goals in 166 minutes (83 minutes/goal) have been more efficient scorers for the Latics.
The all-time series with Wednesday night’s opponents has been somewhat back-and-forth. Hartford won the first two meetings between the clubs, in 2021, followed by the only draw in the series’ history. Miami then won five straight by a combined score of 11-0, and Hartford claimed victories in both games in 2024, winning 3-2 at Trinity Health Stadium, and then 3-0 in the reverse fixture in Miami (with Dieng scoring a brace).
Miami were flying high at one point in the season, but since a 1-0 victory over Charleston, they are winless in seven games in all competitions and have slipped back in the standings, currently sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference. Despite the recent downturn, it’s a far cry from their dismal 2024 season, in which they claimed only 11 points — scoring just 26 goals while conceding 89 — in one of the worst seasons in the history of the league.
Most of their success this season has been driven by the emergence of Francisco Bonfiglio as a legitimate scoring threat, with the forward having 11 goals in the league so far. In fact, over their seven-game winless streak, Miami have only three points, all thanks to four goals by Bonfiglio, who was the only player on the scoresheet in draws against Tulsa, Lexington, and Pittsburgh.
A recurring theme for Miami of late — and one that will be familiar to Hartford fans — is giving up late goals. In their games against Lexington and Pittsburgh, Miami thought they had earned all three points, only to concede in second-half stoppage time. Given Hartford’s equal predilection for giving up late goals, if Wednesday night’s game sees the teams separated by only one goal headed into stoppage time in the second half, fans of both teams will absolutely be expecting one more goal.