Legion FC Falters in Loss to Hartford Athletic
USL Birmingham Legion FC

Legion FC Falters in Loss to Hartford Athletic

Published on August 9, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Birmingham Legion FC News Release


Birmingham Legion FC battles the Hartford Athletic
Birmingham Legion FC battles the Hartford Athletic
(Birmingham Legion FC)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A beautiful Saturday summer evening in Alabama turned ugly for Birmingham Legion FC. Needing a win to get back into positive postseason positioning in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings, a 4-1 defeat to Hartford Athletic has the club searching for answers with 11 matches left in the 2025 season.

"I'm embarrassed," said Legion FC coach Mark Briggs. "It's on me and I want to apologize to our fans, our owners, the media. That won't happen again, I can promise you that. I'm sorry, that was unacceptable.

The loss drops Legion FC down to 11th place in the table as it continues the search for its first home victory in USL-C play since June 18.

"Results like this are damaging for everyone, myself included." explained Briggs. "There are certain moments in seasons and careers that you have look deeply into (what went wrong) and look deeply into the root of the problem. Sometimes change is needed."

A trying first half, highlighted by a converted penalty and a second goal in the span of two minutes from Hartford's Mamadou Dieng, ultimately put Birmingham in a hole that it was unable to dig out of. The visitors then doubled its lead in second half stoppage time on goals from substitutes Kyle Edwards and Adewale Obalola.

A consolation goal from Legion FC's Enzo Martinez in the last seconds of the match staved off the shutout.

"Warm-ups seemed good today and they seemed focused, but then we come out (for the match) and freeze," Briggs noted. "We have to look at why people aren't giving maximum effort, why they aren't putting everything on the line.

"There has to be players on that field that are going to give 100% all the time. When you go on the field, just give everything and if you don't have that, the quality of a player and his technical ability is irrelevant."

Birmingham held 60.5% of the possession on Saturday evening and tallied 17 shots to Hartford's 12. However, it was the away side that provided more dangerous attacking moments throughout the evening with Hartford achieving nine shots on target while having 30 touches in the box, compared to Birmingham's 19.

Legion FC appeared prime to cut into the 2-0 deficit in the 61st minute when Samuel Shashoua drew a penalty immediately after a Tyler Pasher strike rattled the crossbar. An initial save on the spot-kick by Antony Siaha was wiped away after the Hartford goalkeeper came off his line early. The second attempt from Shashoua though was again saved by Siaha, summing up the night for Birmingham.

Veteran goalkeeper Matt Van Oekel and defender Phanuel Kavita returned to the Legion FC starting lineup tonight after lengthy absences. In the net for the first time since July 2 against Charleston, Van Oekel recorded five saves on the night. Kavita, meanwhile, logged 45 minutes on Saturday after missing the four matches, dating back to a July 5 match at Rhode Island FC.

BOX SCORE

USL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHDAY 20 1ST HALF 2ND HALF FINAL

HARTFORD ATHLETIC (6W-8L-4D | 22 PTS) 2 2 4

BIRMINGHAM LEGION FC (4W-8L-8D | 19 PTS) 0 1 1

LINEUPS

HFD: Siaha - GK, Presthus, Ferrell, Diz (Scarlett 80$B!l(B), Samadia, Jimenez (Obalola 65$B!l(B), Hairston (Makangila 65$B!l(B), Anderson - C, Ngalina, Moreira (Careaga 80$B!l(B), Dieng (Edwards 71$B!l(B)

BHM: Van Oekel - GK, Tregarthen, Howell (McIllhatton 78$B!l(B), Kavita (Rufe 45$B!l(B), Paterson, McCartney (Turnbull 45$B!l(B), Laszo (Saucedo 78$B!l(B), Martinez, Shashoua (Saucedo 78$B!l(B), Pasher - C, Damus

GOALS

HFD: Dieng (Penalty) 27$B!l(B, 29$B!l(B; Edwards 90+1$B!l(B; Obalola 90+3$B!l(B

BHM: Martinez 90+5$B!l(B

DISCIPLINE

HFD: Samadia (Yellow) 73$B!l(B

BHM: Howell (Yellow) 8$B!l(B; Saucedo (Yellow) 30$B!l(B; Kavita (Yellow) 45+3$B!l(B; Laszo (Yellow) 48$B!l(B; Rufe (Yellow) 75$B!l(B

NEXT UP

Legion FC will have plenty of time to think about its most recent defeat with the next match not until August 20 when it travels to Rhode Island FC for the 2025 USL Jagermeister Cup quarterfinals. The squad then returns to Protective Stadium on August 23 when it hosts Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. Tickets for that 7:00 p.m. CT match are available and registration for a free Youth Soccer Clinic prior to the match is open.

Check out the Birmingham Legion FC Statistics

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Birmingham Legion FC battles the Hartford Athletic
Birmingham Legion FC battles the Hartford Athletic
   



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