RBNY II season ends with 2:0 loss to Hartford
October 4, 2020 (Official Game Summary)
Hartford Athletic jumped to the top of Group F with a 2-0 victory against New York Red Bulls II on Sunday night at MSU Soccer Park.
Looking to end the season on a positive note of their own, Red Bulls II went close to an early goal in the eighth minute as Sebastian Elney drove in from the left toward the top of the penalty area and fired a shot toward the right corner that was parried wide for a corner by Hartford goalkeeper Parfait Mandanda. Elney fired just wide again from a similar position eight minutes later. Just before the half-hour mark, Omar Sowe drove a low shot from 25 yards that Mandanda wasn't initially able to hold, but was able to scramble to recover before a Red Bulls II player could pounce on the rebound.
Hartford's first real look arrived as Danny Barrera tried a curling effort that Red Bulls II goalkeeper Luca Lewis went at full stretch to turn aside before Tyreke Johnson was unable to keep the rebound in play.
Lewis was called on to make an even bigger save in the 53rd minute as Alex Dixon got in behind the Red Bulls II defense on a good ball by Aidan Mesias into the right channel but saw his shot to the near post denied by an excellent 1-on-1 stop. Hartford's momentum continued to grow five minutes later as Lewis made an initial stop on a shot by Barrera from 20 yards before recovering to keep out Mesias' follow-up effort.
The Athletic opened the scoring with 25 minutes to go, as Dixon played Ever Guzman into the right side of the penalty. Guzman's shot appeared to have been pulled well wide of the left post, but Johnson popped up in the right place to redirect it home from the top of the six-yard area.
With 15 minutes to go, Hartford appeared to put a lock on the game as Conor McGlynn picked up possess in the left channel about 30 yards from goal and pulled the trigger for a finish into the right corner of the net.
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