Hartford Athletic battled through the hottest game in club history and defeated Las Vegas Lights 2-0 late Saturday night with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees at kickoff.
The home side were bright in attack to open the game, led by former Hartford Athletic Forward Preston Tabort Etaka. The Cameroonian, now in his second stint with Lights FC, flew up and down the left side of the pitch, delivering multiple dangerous crosses in front of the net, many of which were intended for former USYNT player Andrew Carleton. Despite Tabort Etaka’s best efforts, Hartford were able to keep Lights FC off the scoreboard in the opening stanza thanks to a couple beautiful saves from goalkeeper Joe Rice and an Andre Lewis deflection off the line.
After struggling to find opportunities in the opening twenty minutes, Hartford capitalized on their first true chance of the night. The speedy Edgardo Rito collected a loose ball in the center of the pitch and turned on the jets to take advantage of an out-of-formation Lights defense. Rito set up a streaking Prince Saydee whose powerful left footed shot was knocked away by Vegas goalkeeper Leo Díaz. After an attempted clearance, Midfielder Juan Pablo Torres was able to gather the ball and smash it past a diving Diáz for the opening goal. Torres’s strike was Hartford’s 17th first half goal of the season, third most in the USL Championship and the club took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Athletic withstood some strong attacking play from Vegas to open up the second half but stood strong thanks to more solid play from Joe Rice, who ended the evening with a season high seven saves and his third clean sheet of the season. In the 81st minute, Hartford put the game away thanks to a couple of substitutes. Kembo Kibato, pushing from his own half completely uncontested into the attacking half, found Kyle Edwards who avoided an on-rushing goalkeeper and a sliding challenge from a defender and tapped the goal into the net for the second and final goal of the game. It was the seventh goal of the season for Edwards, tying him with Wojciech Wojcik (2019) for 4th most in a season in club history.
With the win, Hartford remains undefeated all-time against Las Vegas, the Green and Blue defeated Lights 3-0 at Trinity Health Stadium in September of 2022. It is also the second win on the west coast this season for Hartford, the other a 2-1 win over Oakland Roots in April. Hartford will wrap up the road trip down in Texas, visiting the defending champs, San Antonio FC, next Saturday, July 29th at 9 PM Eastern. Fans can watch the match on WCTX MyTV9, ESPN+ or wtnh.com.
FAST STATS
Shots (On-Target): Hartford 11 (5) – Las Vegas 24 (8)
Corners: Hartford 4 – Las Vegas 15
Fouls: Hartford 6 – Las Vegas 12
Offsides: Hartford 2 – Las Vegas 1
Possession: Hartford 36.7% – Las Vegas 63.3%
Passing Accuracy: Hartford 70.3% – Las Vegas 84.6%
Saves: Hartford 7 – Las Vegas 3
SCORING SUMMARY:
23′ – Juan Pablo Torres (HFD) 1-0
81′ – Kyle Edwards (HFD) 2-0
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY:
89′ – Tyler Bagley (LVL) Yellow
90+4′ – Andrew Carleton (LVL) Yellow
HARTFORD ATHLETIC STARTING LINEUP:
13 (GK) Joe Rice; 5 (DF) Triston Hodge, 28 (DF) Conor McGlynn, 22 (DF) Robin Lapert; 16 (MF) Matt Sheldon (Antoine Hoppenot, 74′), 77 (MF) Andre Lewis (Beverly Makangila, 84′), 10 (MF) Danny Barrera (Kembo Kibato, 59′), 8 (MF) Juan Pablo Torres, 72 (MF) Edgardo Rito; 9 (FW) Elvis Amoh (Kyle Edwards, 74′), 7 (FW) Prince Saydee
LAS VEGAS LIGHTS STARTING LINEUP:
1 (GK) Leo Díaz; 21 (DF) Alejandro Mitrano (Tyler Bagley, 63′), 98 (DF) Timothie Sali, 3 (DF) Zach Carroll, 4 (DF) Lucas Stauffer; 8 (MF) Preston Tabort-Etaka (Issa Rayyan, 82′), 22 (MF) Andrés Jiménez (Azriel Gonzalez, 63′), 17 (MF) Jacob Bushue, 20 (MF) Eric Oteng (Josh Dolling, 40′); 10 (FW) Justin Ingram (Danny Rios, 83′), 30 (FW) Andrew Carleton
