Hartford Athletic suffered its first loss of the season tonight, falling 4-1 to Group E leader Indy Eleven. 

Indy Eleven opened the scoring just as the clock moved past the 3 minute mark. Pushing up the field, Macauley King delivered a beautiful cross to the far post where Nick Moon snuck behind the Hartford back line to head the ball off the mitts of Parfait Mandanda and into the net. Hartford's press generated a number of Indy turnovers in their own end of the field, but Hartford was unable to find any goals in the first half.

Moon's goal wasn't the only scary moment in the first half for Hartford Athletic. In the 15th minute, Alex Davey and Sam Strong went up to head a ball away and collided with each other. The result was blood, lots of blood coming from the heads of both players. Davey stayed on the pitch but Strong was replaced by Alex Lara. Strong  received stitches and showed no signs of a concussion. He will continue to be evaluated.

Hartford came out with an abundance of energy and scored in just 48 seconds after the start of the half. Harry Swartz raced up the right flank and played a ball up to Alex Dixon who volleyed through the legs of a defender to open up the Hartford account. 

Just four minutes later, Indy had an answer. With the ball in the final third, Conor McGlynn dispossessed Indy's Tyler Pasher with a slide tackle. But the loose ball deflected off of Swartz and Ilija Ilic was in perfect position to collect the ball and drop it off to a wide open Pasher to reclaim the lead. Indy would add two more goals in the remaining 40 minutes to secure victory. Despite the loss, Hartford remains at the top of the Group F table.

Hartford Athletic returns home on Sunday afternoon to take on Loudoun United FC. A few tickets still remain, click here to get yours! 

FAST STATS:

Shots (On-Target): Hartford Athletic 8 (3) - 17 (6) Indy

Corners: Hartford Athletic 2-5 Indy

Fouls: Hartford Athletic 13-8 Indy

Offsides: Hartford Athletic 2-2 Indy

Possession: Hartford Athletic 41.7%-58.3% Indy

Passing Accuracy: Hartford Athletic 74.4%-83.6% Indy

Saves: Hartford Athletic 2-2 Indy

SCORING SUMMARY:

4' - Nick Moon (Macauley King) 1-0

46' - Alex Dixon (Harry Swartz) 1-1

51' - Tyler Pasher (Ilija Ilic) 2-1

83' - Drew Conner (Karl Ouimette) 3-1

87' - Matthew Watson (Karl Ouimette) 4-1

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY:

33' - Harry Swartz (Yellow)

45 +4' - Alex Davey (Yellow)

90+2' - Matheus Silva (Yellow)

HARTFORD ATHLETIC STARTING LINEUP:

35 (GK) Parfait Mandanda; 24 (D) Sam Strong (Alex Lara 18'), 5 (D) Alex Davey, 3 (D) Matheus Silva; 33 (MF) Harry Swartz, 6 (MF) Arthur Rogers (Mads Jørgensen 79'), 10 (MF) Danny Barrera©, 28 (MF) Conor McGlynn, 88 (MF) Tyreke Johnson (Gabriel Torres 79'); 99 (F) Ever Guzmán, 11 (F) Alex Dixon (Dre Deas 79')

INDY ELEVEN STARTING LINEUP:

1 (GK) Evan Newton; 20 (D) Karl Ouimette, 5 (D) Mitchell Osmond, 15 (D) Neveal Hackshaw©; 3 (MF) Macauley King (Felicien Dumas 82'), 4 (MF) Tyler Gibson,  6 (MF) Drew Conner (Cameron Lindley 90'), 2 (MF) William Antley; 23 (F) Tyler Pasher (Josh Carleton 90'), 14 (F) Ilija Ilic (Jeremey Rafanello 82'), 17 (F) Nick Moon (Matthew Watson 70')