Hartford Athletic drop opener

Hartford Athletic dropped their USL Championship season opener 5-3 at Monterey Bay. Monterey opened up the scoring early on in the 2nd minute when an unlucky deflection led to Monterey forward Alexander Dixon tapping home the opening goal. Hartford would equalize shortly after with Prince Saydee made an electric run and was found on a sumptuous through ball, Saydee calmly went around the keeper to score and tie the match at 1-1. The score would not remained tied for long as Alexander Dixon found himself on the end of a cross to put Monterey Bay back in front 2-1. Not to be deterred Hartford leveled the match shortly after when Kaveh Rad found himself on the end of a cross to bring Hartford to level terms. The end of the first have turned into a circus with Hartford conceding a penalty and Alexander Dixon finishing off his hat trick. One minute later an own goal from Kaveh Rad saw Monterey go into the half with a 4-2 lead. Goal number 5 of the game from Robellard of Monterey and a concelation header from Prince Saydee for Hartford saw the game finish 5-3 in favor of Monterey Bay. Hartford will need to get things settled in the back if they have playoff hopes for 2023. The Athletic are most definitely going to be threatening going forward with pace, power and precision in the final third. If manager Tab Ramos can sort out the defense this will be a very exciting team to watch this season.