Dieng scores twice as Hartford upsets Louisville City for first time

Hartford’s Mamadou Dieng (33, right) had two goals in Saturday night’s win over Louisville City in Hartford. (Photo courtesy Hartford Athletic)

Mamadou Dieng scored two goals including one with three minutes left in regulation to lift the Hartford Athletic to a 2-1 victory over Louisville City in front of a sold-out Trinity Health Stadium on Saturday night in Hartford.

Hartford’s second consecutive win snapped a five-match winning streak for Louisville, the No. 1 team in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference.

With the win, the Athletic improved to 8-12-4 and moved within six points of Rhode Island for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. There are 10 games remaining in the regular season.

The game was tied 1-1 as the clock wound down. Hartford planted themselves in the attacking third and eventually breaking through in the 83rd minute after a display of brilliant buildup play.

Hartford’s Beverly Makangila played a through ball up the right side to Marcus Epps, who rolled the ball into the penalty box to Kyle Edwards. The striker touched the ball forward to Dieng at the doorstep, and he powered his shot up and over Louisville goalie Damian Las.

With his sixth goal of the season, Dieng, the 19 year old, gave his team the late lead and brought a packed home crowd into a roaring celebration.

Eight minutes of stoppage time were added to the match, and Hartford leaned on their veteran goalkeeper Renan Ribeiro to stand strong when they needed him most.

Two minutes into the added time, Louisville were given a free kick from just outside the box. Louisville’s Taylor Davila placed his shot to the bottom right corner, but a diving Ribeiro kept the ball out.

Six minutes later, the visitors earned a corner kick that ended with an open look from distance for Dylan Mares. Ribeiro was up to the task again, leaping to get two hands to the well-struck ball. It was the final action of the match, securing the 2-1 victory for Hartford.

It was Hartford’s first win over Louisville (17-5-2) in eight matches. Hartford’s Emmanuel Samadia added his third assist. In just his seventh appearance of the season, Kyle Edwards picked up his first assist. Danny Barrera distributed well for Athletic, logging four chances created.

“That is a massive win for our organization,” Hartford coach Brendan Burke said. “This could be a massive turning point for us. For us to come out of halftime with the urgency that we did and the belief that we did and continue to play clean soccer, team soccer and not panic or lose our shape, I thought was amazing to see as a coach.”

After a quiet start, the pace of the match picked up in the 24th minute.

Amadou Dia played a lead ball ahead into Hartford’s box for Wilson Harris, and Jordan Scarlett made a brave slide tackle to take the ball off the foot of the Louisville striker and cleanly erase the scoring chance.

Five minutes later after a stoppage in play, Adrien Perez was given a red card and ejected for abusive language towards an official. With just over 60 minutes left to play, the Green and Blue were given a man advantage.

Down a man, a quality individual effort by Taylor Davila gave Louisville the lead in the 38th minute. In transition, he made a run to the top of the box and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner to beat Renan Ribeiro. Hartford generated three more shots before the end of the half, but none that challenged Damian Las.

In the second half, Hartford tied the game quickly, scoring, scoring just three minutes into the half when Samadia and Dieng connected for the second week in a row.

Samadia made a run up the right side and squared a low cross to the six yard box, and Dieng placed into the bottom right corner to tie the game at 1-1.

Burke didn’t mince words at halftime with his team trailing 1-0, even with a man advantage due to the red card against Louisville.

“Guys, this is our season. We either win this game or you can write it off. That was what we talked about at halftime,” Burke said. “But we talked about playing within a shape, having a pattern, having a structure, and suffocating them.

“And any time they cleared a ball, reacting first and being on top of them and re -establishing a possession, but finding entry passes and not just whipping balls in from 30, 40 yards away like we did in the first half.”

Hartford returns to action on Saturday with a game at Detroit. Hartford returns home to Trinity Health Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7 to face Indy Eleven at 7 p.m.

Hartford 2, Louisville City 1
At Hartford
Louisville City (17-5-2)        1  0  — 1
Hartford (8-12-4)                 0  2  — 2
Goals: Louisville: 37′ – Taylor Davila; Hartford: 48′ – Mamadou Dieng (Samadia); 83′ – Dieng (Edwards); Shots: 12-12, Shots on target: Louisville, 5-4; Corner kicks: Hartford, 8-6; Saves: Hartford, 4-2
HARTFORD ATHLETIC STARTING LINEUP — 40 (GK) Renan Ribeiro, 29 (MF) Emmanuel Samadia, 5 (DF) Triston Hodge, 4 (DF) Jordan Scarlett, 15 (DF) Joseph Farrell, 6 (MF) Beverly Makangila, 94 (MF) Marlon Hairston (Vancaeyezeele, 90+4′); 11 (FW) Michee Ngalina, 10 (MF) Danny Barrera (Edwards, 68′); 7 (FW) Marcus Epps, 33 (FW) Mamadou Dieng
LOUISVILLE CITY FC STARTING LINEUP  — 18 (GK) Damian Las, 13 (DF) Amadou Dia, 5 (DF) Arturo Ordóñez, 32 (DF) Kyle Adams, 14 (FW) Jansen Wilson (Charpie, 69′); 23 (MF) Elijah Wynder (McCabe, 82′); 17 (MF) Taylor Davila, 2 (DF) Aiden McFadden (Davila, 85′); 7 (FW) Ray Serrano (Mares, 81′); 14 (FW) Wilson Harris (Goodrum, 69′); 16 (FW) Adrien Perez