Hartford Athletic Goals: Williams 81’ PK, Beckford 92’
New York City FC II Goals: Calheira 63’, 99’, Carrizo 109'
Quick Read
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 Alex 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. The move was instigated by Jiménez, with his brilliant run inside from the right drawing the attention of the Hartford defence.
He then calmly slipped the ball to Taylor Calheira, who with a smart turn was able to deceive several Hartford defenders before firing it into the net.
Pilkington turned to his bench in the wake of the goal to introduce Rozhansky and Chris Tiao in place of Arévalo and McFarlane.
Dieng fired a fierce shot at Romero and the goalkeeper did brilliantly to parry the first shot up into the night sky before collecting the bouncing rebound.
At the other end, Calheira was proving a consistent threat. A delightful two-touch dribble engineered him space inside the area, but his poked effort could not find the target.
Despite City’s growing influence in the final third Hartford would earn a penalty in the 79th minute after Hauschild was adjudged to have brought down Romario Williams – the Jamaican forward converting the spot kick to tie the game.
Neither side was able to find the go-ahead goal inside the 90 minutes and that forced extra time.
City almost went ahead inside the first minute of extra time after a turnover in the Hartford final third, but instead, it would be the hosts that took the lead after Deshane Beckford ran up the other end and converted with a low shot from the left.
The visitors didn’t rest on their laurels, however, and they found an equalizer in the 99th minute through Calheira’s second of the night. Once again Jiménez was the provider, with his cross finding the forward’s head inside the six-yard box to convert.
Pilkington sought to introduce fresh legs in the 103rd minute as Elias departed in place of Stevo Bednarsky. A further sub would follow in the 107th minute as Shore departed in place of Adam Basse.
The game took another twist in the 109th minute as City took the lead for a second time. Once again, Jiménez was central to the move. He was found with a pass from Máximo Carrizo, and after taking a quick shot that was parried back into the middle there ready to pounce was Carrizo, who slammed it home from close range.
A feisty contest boiled over deep into the second half of extra time as three red cards were shown in the space of several minutes. Hartford's Marcus Epps was the first man to be shown a straight red card before Tiao and Beckford followed him after clashing off the ball.
In the end, Carrizo's strike would prove decisive on the night and confirm a memorable 3-2 win for New York City FC II.
How We Lined Up
What's Next
Next up for New York City FC II is a game against Columbus Crew 2 on Sunday, April 21. Kickoff at Historic Crew Stadium is set for 3:00 PM ET.
