COLTS SECURE THEIR SECOND CLEAN SHEET IN A ROW IN A FATHER’S DAY VICTORY

Hartford, Conn. – On the strength of second half goals from Noah Silverman and Jake Williams, Hartford City FC (4-2-1, 13 points) maintained their second-place spot in the NPSL North Atlantic Conference table with a 2-0 victory over the conference leading New York Shockers (5-1-1, 16 points) on Sunday evening at Trinity Health Stadium. The result gives the Colts their second straight shutout as they held New Jersey United AC off the board in a 1-0 victory last Sunday.

It’s the second time in as many seasons that Hartford City FC have posted back-to-back clean sheets, as the Colts turned the trick against New York Shockers twice in a six-day period last year. The first was a 0-0 draw up at Afrim’s Sports Park on June 17^th, 2023 with Jamis Fite in net, and the second came in a 7-0 victory on the 22^nd at Trinity Health Stadium. The latter saw Nate DiLoreto in goal, and the University of Rhode Island product was in net for Sunday’s result as well, giving him two clean sheets on the campaign and three total during his time with the Colts.

In a first half that was void of many chances, New York thought that they had taken the lead in the 7^th minute when Adel Cekic’s free kick bounced past everyone into the back of the net, but the referee ruled the goal out for a foul inside the box before the ball crossed the goalline.

Hartford City were relegated to just a handful of half chances in the first half, one from Patrick Osiecki on the volley in the 19^th minute, and Jake Williams had a pair of efforts, first dragging his effort wide from a long corner in the 22^nd minute and then putting his laces through the ball from 30 yards out minutes before halftime, but put the effort over the bar.

Almost out of nowhere, the Shockers nearly grabbed the first goal on the stroke of halftime when Mohamed Soumah caught his bicycle kick effort cleanly from a corner kick, only to miss the corner by inches. But that was the warning shot that the Colts needed heading into halftime because when they returned the field in the second half, they were on the front foot immediately.

80 seconds into the second half, Evan Jones was able to win the ball back inside the penalty area and laid it off to Silverman, forcing a save out of New York’s goalie Tyler Brennan from a narrow angle. The Colts continued to sustain that pressure until the breakthrough that came in the 55^th minute.

From a New York free kick by their attacking corner flag, Griffin Tomas cleared away the set piece and unlocked Silverman. The Quinnipiac product would go on a 70-yard solo run, bypassing a pair of Shockers defenders, before slotting his shot past Brennan. It’s Silverman’s first goal of the season for the club but the second straight match where he’s registered a goal contribution as he assisted last Sunday’s Evan Jones’ game winner at New Jersey United.

HCFC nearly doubled their lead straight from kickoff as Brennan cleared a ball straight to the feet of Parker Vasic just outside the penalty area, who then unselfishly laid it off to Evan Southern, only to see Brennan make amends for the giveaway with a one-on-one save.

New York didn’t have much joy going forward over the final half hour as they were frustrated time after time by the Colts back line of Tomas, Osiecki, Larson Richards and Eamon Moylan. And that one-goal advantage was held securely by the hosts until the final eight minutes when Williams was fouled just outside the penalty area.

In a perfect spot for a left-footed free kick, about 22 yards away from goal, the Colts’ captain stepped up and delivered a majestic curler around the wall and flew past the goalies right to double Hartford City’s lead.

Five minutes later, Brennan once again had a miscue clearing his lines as he delivered a goal kick straight to Williams, who was taken down in the box by Shockers defender Connor DeFilippis and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Brennan though made amends for his error, similarly as he did earlier in the half, as he parried away Williams’ spot kick to keep the score at 2-0. Moments later, the referee signaled for full time and Hartford City were able to climb to within three points of the conference leading Shockers with three matches left to play in the regular season.

Hartford City FC will play their penultimate road match of the regular season next Saturday, June 22^nd against Kingston Stockade FC. That match will kick off at 6pm and will be played at Tenney Stadium on the campus of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

June 17 at 1:00 pm