EAST HANOVER, N.J. (February 19, 2022) – New York Red Bulls II and Hartford Athletic played to a 2-2 draw on Saturday, February 19 at Red Bulls Training Facility.
New York opened the scoring in the 11th minute, as trialist forward Jonathan Filipe drove into the box and sent a shot into the far corner of the net. The visitors were able to equalize six minutes later. The score would remain 1-1 through the rest of the half, which was delayed due to inclement weather.
Just after the midway point of the second half, midfielder Nicholas Rabiu’s shot was saved by the Hartford goalkeeper. Forward Austin Brummett collected the loose ball off the save and scored to give New York its second lead of the match in the 70th minute. Hartford found the equalizer eight minutes later to make the final score 2-2.
“I think with the first match of the preseason schedule, we brought significant energy to our game, which is what we’ve been working on in the last two weeks,” Brummett said. “We really focused on our press, which showed in the game, and we scored off it so it worked really well. I think we’re starting to show our quality on the ball more this season, which is something I’m really excited for.”
With Head Coach Gary Lewis spending time in the first team’s preseason camp in California, Individual Development Program (IDP) Coach Sammy Castellanos filled in the role for the match.
“I thought it went well for being two weeks into preseason and the first game,” Castellanos said. “I thought the guys came together and did a really good job. In the second half, I thought the younger Academy guys that came in gave us a new jolt of energy and kept the intensity high like it was in the first half. I think it was a good start to the spell of games that we have coming up.”
New York Red Bulls II will play its second match of the 2022 preseason on Wednesday, February 23 against Allentown United FC. The match will be closed to the public, but coverage can be found across the club’s social media channels.
