March 10, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Hartford Athletic News Release
El Paso Locomotive FC vs Hartford Athletic in the opening match of the season, at Southwest University Park on Saturday, March 9, 2024, in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre/El Paso Locomotive FC
A successful penalty kick from Romario Williams in the first half of tonight’s match proved to be enough for Hartford Athletic, as they held a clean sheet the rest of the way to beat El Paso 1-0 in their season opener.
Williams drew the penalty himself in the 13th minute, taking contact in the box from El Paso’s Bolu Akinyode after chasing down a well-placed ball by Jay Chapman from midfield into the box. Williams calmly buried his try into the bottom right corner of the net, beating El Paso goalkeeper Jahmali Waite and giving Hartford a 1-0 lead.
The Green and Blue nearly doubled their lead just moments later in the 15th minute. Williams was involved again, feeding a cross from the left flank to the six yard box for Michee Ngalina, whose shot went just above the crossbar.
El Paso’s Miles Lyons, Lucas Stauffer, and Amando Moreno fired off shots over the next 15 minutes in response to Hartford’s early attack, but only Stauffer’s was on target and did not challenge Paul Walters in goal. Ngalina continued to knock on El Paso’s door on the other end of the pitch, and came inches away from extending Hartford’s lead. In the 44th minute, the winger received a long ball from Marcus Epps at the top right corner of the box. He faked to his right, then turned to his left and fired a shot that tipped off the hands of Waite and then off the left post. Still in pursuit, Ngalina received another pass from Epps and struck a shot from the opposite side of the box, forcing a diving save from Waite. A quality effort from Ngalina made El Paso’s back line bend, but the score stayed 1-0.
Locomotive FC had the final action of the half on a corner kick, and it was their best scoring chance of the opening 45 minutes. Tumi Moshobane looped the ball into the box, and Tony Alfaro squared his header a few feet over the crossbar. The score remained 1-0 with Hartford in the lead after four minutes of stoppage time.
The home side came out on the front foot in the second half, owning 66% of the possession through the first 15 minutes and taking the first three shots. Justin Dhillon found the back of the net off a feed from Amando Morena in the 58th minute, but the goal was called off due to Morena…
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