New York City FC II Down Hartford Athletic

April 17, 2024 – MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro)
New York City FC II News Release

New York City FC II recorded a famous win against Hartford Athletic in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. City took the lead in the 63rd minute through Taylor Calheira before Romario Williams leveled the game in the 81st minute from the penalty spot. Hartford went ahead in the 92nd minute through Deshane Beckford before Calheira notched his second of the night seven minutes later. City took the lead in the second half of injury time through Maximo Carrizo in what would be the game-winning goal. The contest ended with three red cards – two for Hartford and one for City – as Marcus Epps, Beckford, and Chris Tiao were dismissed deep into extra time.

Match Recap

A trip to the Nutmeg State awaited New York City FC II on Wednesday as they took on Hartford Athletic in the U.S. Open Cup.

The Boys in Blue overcame Hudson River rivals Red Bulls II in the previous round to set up the clash in Connecticut against the USL Championship outfit.

Head Coach Matt Pilkington made four changes to the team that recorded an emphatic 6-2 win against New England Revolution II last time out – Piero Elias, Jonathan Shore, Tomás Romero, and Andrews Hauschild, replacing Jake Rozhansky, Jacob Arroyave, Alex Rando, and Rio Hope-Gund.

The hosts started the game the better of the two sides and engineered several good early chances.

Leading Hartford’s attack was forward pairing Mamadou Dieng and Enoch Mushagalusa. The latter was handed the chance to give Hartford the lead inside the opening five minutes after running in behind but Romero did well to block his effort.

Dieng thought he had broken the deadlock minutes later after heading in a cross from the right-hand side, but he was denied by an offside flag

City grew into the contest as the half progressed and that saw them engineer a half-chance for forward Jonathan Jiménez.

The forward collected the ball centrally from Ronald Arévalo, but he was unable to make clean contact with the strike and it drifted wide.

The start of the second half saw an early chance for City after a corner was cleared to the edge of the box. Stepping onto the ball was Shore, but he was unable to keep his effort under the crossbar.

For the hosts, Rece Buckmaster came close in the 58th minute after escaping the attention of Christian McFarlane, but he dragged the effort wide.

The game would be sparked into life in the 63rd minute as New York City FC II dramatically took the lead….