Hartford’s Kyle Curinga battles for the ball in Sunday’s USL Championship match in Washington won by the Athletic,

2-1. (Photo courtesy Hartford Athletic)

WASHINGTON, DC— The Hartford Athletic got a big monkey off their back on Sunday when they defeated Loudon United, 2-1, before 825 fans at Audi Field in Washington, DC. It was Hartford’s second straight win after opening up the season with nine straight losses—and its first-ever USL Championship win since joining the league this season. Hartford forward Jose Angulo, who scored a USL record 23 goals in a single season with Pittsburgh, scored two goals.

The Athletic took a 1-0 lead early in the second half when Angulo fired a shot at Louden goalie Earl Edwards, Jr., that he saved. But the rebound went right back to Angulo, who deposited the rebound into the net for the lead with 13 minutes gone in the second half.

Louden (2-4-3) was the benefit of a Hartford mistake to tie the match at 1-1. A back pass from Hartford defender Nikolai Lyngo got past Hartford goalie Jacob Lissek.

But it took just two minutes for Angulo to put Hartford back in front. He took a pass from teammate Sebastian Dalgaard in the center of the box and fired a left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net past Edwards to put the Athletic back into the lead.

the 68th minute with Angulo taking Sebastian Dalgaard’s pass in the center of the box and firing a left-footed shot into the top-left corner to restore the lead.

With the win, the Athletic improve to 2-9 overall, and 1-9-1 in USL Championship play. Hartford returns to Rentschler Field on Saturday for a 7 p.m. match with the Ottawa Fury. .The win over Loudon United represents the second straight for the Connecticut team, which defeated New York Cosmos B in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open tournament in West Hartford last week.

—Staff Reports #usl @hfdathletic @usl_group

