North Carolina FC 4 – 1 Hartford Athletic
Cary, NC— Hartford Athletic has had a rough welcome to the USL Championship League. They pulled into WakeMed Soccer Park having lost their first seven games of their inaugural season and hoping to turn things around.
North Carolina FC almost immediately dashed Hartford’s hopes for a turn in their luck when Steven Miller broke out of his defensive half and found forward Marios Lomis, who dribbled into the Hartford 18-yard box and unleashed a shot that just found the far corner of the goal, putting the home team in front in the game’s fifth minute.
North Carolina FC celebrates their first goal of the game, scored by forward Marios Lomis vs. Hartford Athletic.
Hartford tried to pressure NCFC, but the goalkeeper Alex Tambakis didn’t face any serious tests in the half. The Dead Whales kept the pressure on the visitors and nearly doubled their lead in the 37th minute. Defender Aaron Guillen carried the ball to the outside corner of the visitors’ 18-yard box and launched a shot toward the goal. Hartford’s defense blocked the ball but it floated to D.J. Taylor, who chest-trapped the ball to his feet and launched a rocket of a shot that Hartford goalkeeper Frederik Due tipped into the air. Lomis was on the rebound but couldn’t get the ball untangled from his feet.
As the first half went into stoppage, Miller had a scoring attempt saved by Due, resulting in a corner kick for North Carolina. Dre Fortune took the corner, sending it to the middle of the box where it found the knee of center-back Sam Brotherton. He followed up on the bounce off of his knee, beating Due point-blank to send the NCFC into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
Hartford Athletic head coach Jimmy Nielsen was demonstrably frustrated with his team after the game but found some moments of positivity. “I thought we found our way back into to the game created some decent opportunities and first half,” he said after lamenting his club’s poor start to the 2019 campaign.
NCFC defender Sam Brotherton and forward Marios Lomis pressure the Hartford Athletic goal.
Things would quickly get worse for the Athletic when a poor clearing attempt landed at the feet of Miller, who took a touch and then hammered a left-footed shot that nearly took out the crossbar before going in.
“I think my first touch set me up perfectly and I said, ‘I’m gonna smash the next one I have with my left foot’ Lucky enough, it went off the bar and went in.” Miller said after the game.
Hartford looked to fight their way back into the game in the 58th minute when forward Mac Steeves chest-passed a lobbed ball toward Alex Dixon. The ball bounced perfectly in front of him and off the second bounce he rifled a shot from outside the 18-yard box past NCFC goalkeeper Alex Tambakis to cut the lead to 3-1.
That would be the lone highlight for the visiting team, however, as North Carolina held them off and scored a late goal when Manny Perez found Robert Kristo with a perfectly-weighted pass into the penalty area. Kristo chipped the ball over Due to close out the scoring in the game.
“Disappointed we gave up the goal to be honest,” Sarachan reflected in his post-game remarks. “But, you know, I thought I thought the energy was good from the start. I thought some of the things we talked about in the final third and that we’ve tried to work on kind of came through a little bit tonight in terms of service.”
Hartford Athletic goalkeeper Frederik Due takes a goal kick in the game against North Carolina FC.
Injuries to regular starters Austin da Luz and Tommy McCabe gave Sarachan a chance to give players like Fortune and Graham Smith a spot in the starting lineup. Both players put in solid shifts, which speaks well for the depth of Sarachan’s squad. He also tweaked the lineup to flip Miller and Perez, taking advantage of Miller’s versatility.
“I’ve used him (Miller) primarily as a midfield player mostly on the right. He’s not a left-footed guy, but tonight we flipped him and had Manny on the right and him on the left. Steven’s just a grinder he’s a great veteran guy gives you leadership on the field but also gives you quality and being versatile is a good thing.”
Final Notes
- There were some tense moments in the first half when rookie Manny Perez went down behind the Hartford goal with what appeared to be a serious injury. He was looked after by training staff for several minutes while NCFC played with 10 men. With the activity happening at the far end of the pitch, Sarachan appeared frustrated about not knowing if Perez would be able to continue. With help from NCFC training staff, Perez was able to walk off the injury and re-enter the game. He would go on to get an assist on Robert Kristo’s 81st-minute goal.
- Saturday night’s victory lifted North Carolina FC to third place in the Eastern Conference, trailing Tampa Bay and St. Louis FC.
- At +9, North Carolina trails only the Tampa Bay Rowdies (+10) in goal differential.
- Captain Austin da Luz got a knock during the previous game, a 3-0 win at Charlotte, and was kept out of the Hartford game.
- Midfielder Tommy McCabe had what head coach Dave Sarachan called, “a deserved rest”. “He’s had a lot of minutes for us. He’s carried a little bit of a lower-body injury. Nothing major. But given the amount of minutes that he’s played, I felt this was a night we could sort of give him the night off and take a look at a few guys.”
- NCFC will go back on the road for two tough tests at Indy and Ottawa before returning to Sahlen’s Stadium for a league match against Birmingham on May 18 and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match the third week in May.
Lineups
North Carolina FC: A. Tambakis; A. Guillen, S. Brotherton, A. Comsia, DJ Taylor; S. Miller © (Y. Chester 74’), G. Smith, M. Perez; D. Fortune, B. Speas (V. Igbekoyi, 83’), M. Lomis (R. Kristo 55’)
Hartford Athletic: F. Due; K. Curinga, N.Lyngo, S. de Wit, J. Brown; G. Gentile (S.Dalgaard 65’), N. Downs, P. Rasmussen © (M. Jorgensen 73’), C. Martin (R. Williams 73’); A. Dixon, M. Steeves
Score:
North Carolina FC: 4
Hartford Athletic: 1
Goals:
NCFC: M. Lomis (5’ S. Miller), S. Brotherton (45+’ D. Fortune), S. Miller (47’ unassisted), R. Kristo (82’ M. Perez)
HFD: A. Dixon (58’ M. Steeves)
Discipline
NCFC: S. Brotherton, YC 52’
HFD: G. Gentile, YC 66’; K. Curinga, YC 90+’
Attendance: 5,097
Photo Gallery: North Carolina FC vs Hartford Athletic, April 27, 2019
All photos by Victoria Klum.
