Athletic Win First Match

Hartford Athletic’s Nicky Downs (21), a midfielder from Lakeville and
Yale battles for ball in Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup match.
(Photo courtesy Hartford Athletic)

WEST HARTFORD—The Hartford Athletic are winless no more. The Athletic then took a two-goal lead in the first half and won the first game in club history with a 2-1 victory over New York Cosmos B in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Tuesday night at the University of Hartford.

Hartford played its best offensive half of the season in the first 45 minutes. Indeed, for just the second time in 11 games this season, the Athletic struck first when Harry Swartz netted the opener with a great touch and turn off a low cross from Giuseppe Gentile. Swartz went near post past an outstretched Cosmo goalie Santiago Castano for the first goal of the night. Just nine minutes later, Mads Jørgensen scored on a free kick from just outside the top of the box. Some beautiful spin and a helpful bounce helped Mads find the back of the net and Hartford took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

After the break, the Cosmos carried the play and cut the deficit in half in on a goal by Emmanuele Sembroni in the 57th minute. The Cosmos play in the NPSL, which consists of teams with a mix of professional and college athletes.

With the win, the Athletic improves to 1-9-1 overall, although they remain winless in USL Championship play. Hartford gave up 19 shots but goalie Jacob Lissek ultimately was up to the task.

The Athletic advance in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and will either play Memphis 901 FC or the New York Red Bull U-23 team on May 29. Hartford will be on the road in either case. The Athletic continue their regular season play in the USL when they travel to Washington to face Loudoun United on Sunday at 2 p.m., ET.

HARTFORD ATHLETIC STARTING LINEUP

Jacob Lissek; Raymond Lee (c), Sem de Wit, Nikolaj Lyngo, Kyle Curinga; Nicky Downs, Harry Swartz (Jonathan Brown 70′), Giuseppe Gentile, Mads Jørgensen; Wojciech Wojcik (Sebastian Dalgaard 80′), Jose Angulo (Mac Steeves 83′).

NEW YORK COSMOS B STARTING LINEUP

Santiago Castaño; Matthew Lewis, Ansi Agolli, Kevin Venegas (Pedro Galvão 85′), Emmanuele Sembroni; Junior Burgos, Daniel Szetela (c), Ricardo Bocanegra, Joseph Sanchez (Charlie Le Dula 54′); Bljedi Bardic, Aaron Dennis (Aly Hassan 85′).

 

—Staff Reports

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