Club releases 2022 schedule, opens USL Championship season on road against Pittsburgh

The Hartford Athletic announced their full schedule for the 2022 season on Wednesday.

Hartford will play 34 USL Championship regular-season matches including 17 home games, 15 of which will be played on a Saturday. Times for matches will be released in coming weeks.

The Athletic start the season on the road March 19 against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. Hartford plays its second game on the road against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on March 26. Hartford’s home opener will take place at Dillon Stadium on April 2 against Atlanta United 2 in the first meeting between the two squads since 2019.

On April 23, Hartford will host Detroit City FC, who are playing their first season in the USL Championship.

DCFC spent the past two seasons in the National Independent Soccer Association. Hartford will play eight other opponents for the first time in club history this season, including hosting Phoenix Rising FC (May 28), Las Vegas Lights FC (Sept. 17) and Oakland Roots (Oct. 8) and at FC Tulsa (May 21), El Paso Locomotive FC (June 4), San Diego Loyal SC (June 11), Rio Grande Valley FC (July 27) and LA Galaxy II (Sept. 5).

Hartford will also renew home and away matchups with a number of Eastern Conference teams for the first time since 2019, including Atlanta United 2, Birmingham Legion FC and Memphis 901 FC. Indy Eleven, who the Athletic last played during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, is also on the schedule.

The remainder of the schedule consists of home and away matchups with 2021 Atlantic Division foes Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Miami FC, Charleston Battery, New York Red Bulls II and Loudoun United FC and a rematch with Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. The Switchbacks will come to Hartford on June 28, one of just two weekday home matches this season.