Las Vegas Lights FC is visiting Hartford Athletic on Saturday in their first and only meeting of the regular season. Here is everything you need to know:
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 4:00 p.m. PT at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, Conn.
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available to watch locally on SSSEN and streamed nationally on ESPN+ (subscription required).
2024 RECORDS AND STANDINGS: Lights: 8-7-8 (32 points, 5th West), Hartford: 6-12-4 (22 points, 11th East)
FORM GUIDE (all competitions, most recent first): Las Vegas: DWDWW, Hartford: LDWDL
PREVIOUS MEETING: Hartford defeated the Lights 2-0 at Cashman Field in Las Vegas on July 22, 2023. Juan Torres and Kyle Edwards scored on either side of halftime for the visitors.
CHANCE AT 2024 LEAGUE RECORD: Las Vegas Lights FC enter this weekend tied with the Charleston Battery and Sacramento Republic for the longest unbeaten streak in the USL Championship this season at 11 matches.
DOODY ON THE SCORESHEET AGAIN: Lights defender Grayson Doody recorded his second assist in three matches to start his tenure in Las Vegas after being acquired on a season-long loan from Major League Soccer’s CF Montréal.
TROUBLE ON BOTH ENDS: Hartford enters the weekend with the second-fewest goals scored (19) and second-most goals conceded (38) in the league this season.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Michee Ngalina, F
Although it’s been collectively a tough effort in front of goal for Hartford, Ngalina has been the one consistent piece of the attack with seven goals.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Lights FC Head Coach Dennis Sanchez
On keeping the same consistency on the road as the team showed last month…
It starts with taking the same approach to every game. We’ve been adamant about really trying to play our way all season long whether that’s home or away. You’ve seen how brave our group is going into Sacramento and New Mexico, places that are really difficult to go and get valuable points. We’ll continue to take the same approach. Hartford is a little further travel, so we don’t get to train there properly when we land because of the duration of the trip, but the guys adapt well and they’re resilient. We’ll be ready.
Lights FC defender Shawn Smart
On the Lights’ 11-match unbeaten streak and trying to make it 12 this weekend…
We want to play the game and not the occasion. It’s so easy to get caught up in what we could do. We just need to focus on what we’ve been doing.
Lights FC defender Maliek Howell
On what he expects from the match against Hartford…
They’re going to be coming direct a lot, so I’ll be looking for me and Joe [Hafferty] to be picking up those balls to the strikers because that’s how they play. They ping balls to the strikers and find a third man to play in behind. So, if me and Joe and can man up and win those balls for us, we’ll have a very good game.
