In mid-June, before his side’s contest against Loudoun United FC at Trinity Health Stadium, Hartford Athletic’s Joe Farrell made a request of the club’s equipment manager.

On one of the club’s standard green undershirts, he asked for the slogan “Dream Crazy” be screen-printed so he could wear it that night.

It was a tribute.

Later that evening, when Kyle Edwards bagged Hartford’s third goal of the night to wrap up a convincing 3-0 victory, during the celebration Farrell lifted his jersey to reveal the slogan.

A few states away, the message hit home to his brother Pat and sister-in-law Margaretha, who was in the late stages of a courageous six-year battle with metastatic breast cancer.

“My brother was able to show her an image of it together,” Farrell told uslchampionship.com this week. “They started crying. She was towards the end, and she knew it, but it was something that I did to help them, both, all three of them, including Rosie, to have that picture with me for the future.”

Guiding Light

To know Margaretha Ehret – known to all as Gretta – was to love her.

For Farrell, the youngest of his four siblings as they grew up in Philadelphia, that friendship had been part of most of his life.

“Her and my brother met their sophomore year of high school at Penn Charter in Philadelphia, so at the time, I must have been about eight or nine years old when I met Gretta,” said Farrell. “She was an athlete, a sister, a friend, a daughter, a mother. She was all the above, and she was great at everything she did.”

Dreaming Crazy

In 2018, Nike launched a new campaign centered around tennis legend Serena Williams – “Dream Crazier”

The message, aimed at inspiring women to not only pursue sports but to pursue the highest level of sports, resonated strongly with Gretta. As someone who continued to put her energy into lifting up the next generation of athletes in Philadelphia, it struck her as the opportunity to strive for a legacy to leave behind.

The following year, however, she was first diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and the idea of Dream Crazy took on a different perspective.

“When she got her diagnosis, that's what she leaned on,” said Farrell. “That’s what we all kind of leaned into during the entirety of her process of chemo treatment after chemo treatment, full body treatments, individualized treatments. You name it, she went through it.”

What the treatment couldn’t deny, though, was Gretta’s ability to shine and remain present in the moment.

“She was a warrior and would do anything during her chemo treatments,” said Farrell. “During her stages of cancer, she was running half-marathons and doing 10k runs and some of the most impressive things imaginable during her process.”

In 2022, Gretta and Pat adopted a daughter, Rosie, which added another chapter to Gretta’s story and the legacy she left.

“The dream crazy legacy is something that anyone who knew Margaretha will carry forever,” said Farrell. “But for my brother’s little girl and Margaretha’s little girl, I think it’s going to be something massive for her in her life to take her to wherever she wants to go. Her mom was incredible, and having that dream crazy legacy, and all the support and the love and the friends and the family there around not only my brother but Rosie, is something that will help her and my brother along this this tough journey in remembering Gretta.”

Returning Close to Home

After completing his college career at LaSalle, Farrell made an immediate impact as he entered the professional ranks with the Rochester Rhinos. In his rookie season, he was voted to the USL Championship All-League Second Team before heading West to Phoenix Rising FC, where he achieved team success as part of the club’s transformation into a serious contender.

During his time at Rising, Farrell lifted the Western Conference title twice and the Players’ Shield once in a three-year span. He still ranks second in Phoenix’s history with 123 appearances across the regular season and playoffs, but it was there that he also learned what it took to be a leader.

It also gave Farrell a chance to be closer to home and family, and Gretta. Still in the middle of her battle with breast cancer, she and Pat made a trip to Pittsburgh and Hartford to see Farrell in action for the first time since she’d come to his games at LaSalle, something that hadn’t been feasible when he was out west.

“She came to one game in Hartford as well as one game in Pittsburgh,” said Farrell. “She was really a lover of sports. She gave her life to the future generation and inspiring, particularly women, to pursue their dream in sport and to use sport as an outlet and inspiration.”

The End of the Fight

Five days after Farrell donned the Dream Crazy shirt for the first time, Gretta passed away.

Farrell played in the club’s USL Jägermeister Cup game on June 28, scoring in the shootout – raising his jersey again to display the “Dream Crazy” tribute – as Hartford earned a point against Detroit City FC before entering its league-mandated mental health break. Understandably, it came at the ideal moment for Farrell as he headed home to be with family.

“Being able to have that mental health break and see my family just after the passing, it meant a lot to me,” said Farrell.

Having seen the undershirt – and knowing what was going on off the field for one of their leaders – it was also a moment when his teammates surrounded Farrell with love and support.

With regular captain Jordan Scarlett out due to injury for the side’s decisive final USL Jägermeister Cup group stage game away at Rhode Island, Farrell came to the fore.

Pregame, he decided to expand on Gretta’s story with his teammates.

“I was able to give a pregame speech and just share a little bit about why I was wearing the shirt and the legacy,” said Farrell. “I know that my teammates, they saw that, and they comment on all my socials, and they bought into dreaming crazy as well. I was able to share a little bit of Margaretta story with them, and they seemed to buy into it.”

Since their return, there’s been almost no stopping them.

Starting with the club’s 2-1 victory on the road against Detroit City FC on July 12, Athletic has produced a 9-3-2 record and +17-goal differential in USL Championship play. Following Farrell’s pregame insight in Rhode Island, the side emerged with a dramatic penalty shootout win that earned one of two wild cards to the knockout stage.

For a club that has rarely tasted success in its short history, it’s been a transformative run, one where Gretta’s life story has been embraced by a broadening audience.

“Soon after [her passing] was the [nationally televised] Rhode Island match where Mike Watts was able to do an incredible tribute that my family, truly, truly will always remember,” said Farrell. “The Hartford supporters, our fans, our fan group, the Hartford Bonanza, they’ve made tifos, they bought into Dream Crazy, and they’ve asked me every step of the way, how they can help me, how they can help the team.”

Dreaming of a Title

The club’s success over the past three months has brought Hartford to Saturday night’s USL Jägermeister Cup Final against Sacramento Republic FC. It’s the first final in the club’s history, with fans heading coast to coast to see if the side can lift the trophy at Heart Health Park.

It’s also exactly the sort of game that Farrell – and the other veterans Burke brought to Hartford with trophies on their resumes like Scarlett and Hairston – are here for.

“For me, this would be my fifth trophy in 10 years, and possibly my third trophy in three different cities,” said Farrell. “Being able to bring something back to Hartford, I know it’ll mean a lot to myself, but it will also mean a lot to the city and to the team as well to the club, because Hartford hasn’t always had the brightest of days when it comes to soccer, but we’re on the cusp of one right now.”

Hartford’s run both in league and cup play has been a collective work. Through a six-game undefeated run in the USL Jägermeister Cup, the side leads the tournament with 14 goals, but no player has recorded more than two tallies individually, with different players coming through at different moments.

One of Farrell’s came in the club’s Semifinal against Greenville Triumph SC in September, when he scored the opening goal of a 3-1 victory that saw Hairston bag his second goal in as many knockout stage games, which also stand as his lone two goals of the campaign overall.

Having entered the season as the elder statesman in the club’s locker room – although recently overtaken by late-season arrivals John Berner and Hadji Barry – the 31-year-old Farrell has taken on the mantle of being a leader, taking the lessons he gained from the likes of Drogba and Asante in Phoenix and passing them to Athletic’s budding young talent.

“Coming to Hartford and being able to lead these guys is one of my proudest moments of my career, whether we win the final or not,” said Farrell. “As a leader, I've got the guys to buy in and to believe in me, to believe in the system. And obviously Jordan has a big part in that. Marlon has a big part in that. There’s tons of guys who at different points in the season have been leaders for us. [Antony] Siaha has made some incredible saves for us. [Adrian] Diz Pe scored a goal at the end of the Rhode Island gate to help us get to this situation.

“We’ve had guys throughout the locker room who stepped up at different times, but for me to walk into Hartford two years ago and to be sitting here now in Sacramento, ready to play for a trophy, it’s one of my proudest moments as a professional player.”

From past experience, Farrell knows what it’s going to take to come away with victory against Republic FC. As much as Hartford has taken on the characteristics of Burke’s best sides with its swashbuckling attack and willingness to move at speed to put pressure on opponents, there’s a realism about how knockout games in general – and finals in particular – can play out.

Against a Sacramento side that’s become renowned for its defensive structure and solidity, Farrell is prepared for the challenge ahead. What’s more, so are his younger teammates, with the collective spirit the side has built playing a key role in reaching this point.

“Doesn't matter if they’re 20 years old or 31 years old, 34 years old, this group is willing to fight together, and we’re proud,” said Farrell. “We have a proud group of guys who we’re playing for, not only ourselves, but we’re playing for each other. That's something that I can be very proud of about this group, the way that we’ve come together as a team and have each other’s backs in every moment possible.”

As he and his family carry Gretta’s legacy forward, Farrell hopes the message that will again adorn his undershirt on Saturday night can serve as not only the rallying cry for his side, but for the following the club has built over the course of its run.

“Being able to have that that mantra, and share that mantra with others, and share her legacy with others, hopefully it’s an inspiration to my teammates, to my family, to anyone who sees it and asks about it,” said Farrell.

“I’d like it to be an inspiration, because that’s what she was. She was an inspiration.”