Strong goalkeeping keeps Hartford scoreless
LOUISVILLE CITY FC 1, HARTFORD ATHLETIC 0
HARTFORD — Finally, the lights were on at Dillon Stadium. Hartford Athletic’s luck, however, was just a bit off, as it fell to Louisville City FC 1-0 on Saturday night.
“You don’t always get what you deserve in life, and you don’t always get what you deserve in soccer,” head coach Jimmy Nielsen said. “I think this is one of the nights where we deserved a lot more. I think we deserved a lot more beginning to end. I said it in the locker room; I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”
Hartford (6-19-4, 17th in the Eastern Conference) recorded 12 shots — five on target — but were the recipients of a strong goalkeeping performance from Louisville’s Chris Hubbard, and a shutout pitched by the defense. Hartford outshot Louisville (14-8-7, seventh in the Eastern Conference), had more shots on target and inside the box, but a well-played ball by Napo Matosso in the 59th minute that was rocketed into the top left corner of the net proved to be the difference.
Athletic had chances late, too. A well-targeted corner kick in the 80th minute was saved by Hubbard. A minute later, forward Sebastian Dalgaard looked to have a wide open lane into the box, but was called offside. In the 89th minute, midfielder Wojciech Wojcik had space in the box and received an on-target header, but put a little too much on it and sent it over the net.
“It’s a game of chance, and I think Louisville did a good job of moving the ball and pinning us back in our own half for a little bit,” Wojcik said. “The game plan was to hit them on the counter, and we could have done a little better to execute and finish off our chances.”
Hartford last played Louisville on March 23. It was the third game of the season, and the third of eight losses in a row to begin the year.
“I think we’re a different team,” Nielsen said. “I think tonight, it was consistently performing on a very high level … I know we didn’t score, but we deserved one or two goals for the chances we had.”
Additionally, it was the first night game played at Dillon Stadium, as the installation of lights had been among the longest setbacks in the stadium’s renovation. Despite the scattered showers throughout the game, the team played in front of a crowd of 4,741 fans.
“I think it brought a lot of good intensity to the game,” Nielsen said. “Top quality atmosphere from the fans as usual, creating a great environment … they have our back from beginning to end.”
Despite Saturday’s match being a loss, Nielsen and his staff are viewing it is a positive.
With five games remaining in the regular season, the goal remains the same, albeit with the playoffs out of reach: points, points, points.
“For these next few games, it’s about 18, 19, 20 games working together to get a result,” Wojcik said. “Ottawa is not going to be an easy game, no game in the USL is easy, but if we put a good collective effort together, I think we can come away with some points.”