New Haven Prevails In Gritty Home-Opener

At the start of the second half of the New Haven United Football Club’s first home game ever, New Haven’s Pau Santanach sent the Hartford fans in the crowd into a moment of silence.

Santanach received a pass at the top of Hartford’s box, spun away from two defenders, and sent a strong ball into the back of the net. New Haven 1, Hartford 0.

That was the scene Wednesday, as the city’s new semi-professional soccer team hosted a home opener that didn’t feel quite like a home opener. Not at the beginning, at least. 

The team faced Connecticut rivals Hartford City Football Club at Yale’s Reese Stadium, under cloudy skies with on-and-off moments of torrential rain. This didn’t stop New Haven’s fans from showing, and it certainly didn’t stop Hartford’s — who came prepared with a banner, a drummer, a flag, and an array of taunting songs. 

“We play better in the rain!” 

“You’re not singing!” 

“New Haven, can you hear us?” 

(“I didn’t hear anything,” Ed Sperry, a fan from New Haven’s Elm City Express days, responded.)

The stands seemed like Hartford’s for much of the first half, which was scoreless but gritty. In the game’s 35th minute, a fight nearly broke out when New Haven’s David Rosen made a sloppy slide tackle in Hartford’s box. With Rosen on the ground, Hartford player Ethan Mounts retaliated with an angry push and a kick. Both teams swarmed the corner, and the referee and assistant referee had to break the skirmishes apart. 

Rosen and Mounts earned a yellow card each, and Hartford sang on. 

Then came Satanach’s goal at the start of the second half.

Half an hour later, Aleksei Armas bagged another for good measure — also from the top of the box. With three Hartford players closing in from behind, Armas slipped a quick ball into the goal’s lower left. Right after, he took off to celebrate with his teammates and the fans, with the proud two-knee slide of a professional, his arms spread wide and yelling with excitement. 

In the game’s final moments, Hartford fought back. Christian Dionne found a long ball from Hartford’s half and cut to the middle as two New Haven defenders gave him a bit too much space in front. Dionne played a low ball to the near corner and raised his side to a one-point deficit. 

With Hartford back in the game, and tensions high in this budding intra-state rivalry, the game grew more aggressive, even in stoppage. Minutes after Dionne’s goal, Hartford’s Noah Silverman made a heavy in-the-air tackle that sent him to the sidelines with his second yellow card of the game, then turned into a red. 

The bleachers may have sounded like Hartford’s, but it was New Haven’s game. By the end, with dripping umbrellas and soaked raincoats, New Haven fans had packed the stands. The result: 2 – 1, New Haven. 

“I feel like [Hartford’s team had] a great crowd, but our people showed that they’re with the team,” Santanach said after the match. ​“Even though it’s the first game at home, from the first second, they made us know that they were there and that for sure helped us during the whole game.” 

In that game, New Haven just beat one of the oldest teams in the National Premier Soccer League — with only ​“three or four practices,” according to Head Coach Kledis Capollari. 

But the fight isn’t over yet, with New Haven facing Hartford again on Sunday. This time it will be away, where Hartford fans will definitely raise the pressure (and the volume of the singing). Still, with only two games in their pocket, New Haven United is building a solid win streak and a fanbase that’ll be in their corner all along the way, after their 4 – 1 opening season win against Osners Football Club in Queens.

Richard Donovan, a new fan, said on Wednesday that he has already purchased season tickets: ​“It’s hard coming in without much expectations, but I’m excited to see what they come out with.”