There are no secrets in the Atlantic Division at this point of the season.
As the Riverhounds prepare to make their second trip to Connecticut to battle Hartford Athletic for the third time this season, there aren’t many unexpected tactical shake-ups either coaching staff can make for the 7 p.m. Saturday matchup.
Execution will be the deciding factor in the match. The Hounds’ failure to defend late cost them points in the 1-1 draw on May 15, and it could have done the same when the Hounds fell behind in the second meeting on July 31. Fortunately, the offensive execution was there in the second half, and the Hounds pulled away to a 3-1 win.
This week’s 3 Things feature doesn’t reveal much new, but it does highlight the areas that will be most critical in deciding the outcome.
1.) Caldwell vs. the world
As good as Danny Barrera has been as the Hartford captain and scoring leader, their most valuable player this season might be goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell.
Caldwell has played every minute this season for Hartford, and he leads the USL Championship with 74 saves — 11 more than any other player in the league. And he has been under heavy fire in his team’s recent swoon, going 1-4-1 dating back to their trip to Pittsburgh.
In those six matches, Caldwell has made 29 saves, and he has faced at least six shots on goal in all but one. That one was their lone win in the last six, 2-1 over Charleston.
The Hounds peppered the Hartford goal with eight shots, scoring three, the last time the teams met. And while Caldwell has been excellent with a .747 save percentage, the volume of work is clearly wearing down the Hartford backstop and his defense.
2.) Dynamic Dixon
The hat trick by Russell Cicerone obviously grabbed the weekend’s headlines, but Alex Dixon continued to show why he might be the most dynamic threat the Hounds possess.
By setting up two of Cicerone’s goals — one with a pin-point through ball from midfield, the other with a hard drive to the goal line and low cross — Dixon has already set a career high for assists in a season with seven, one off the USL Championship co-leaders, one of whom is Hartford’s Barrera.
Dixon also has six goals already, including his difference-making brace in the last meeting with Hartford, so the formula for success is there.
If the veteran forward/midfielder/occasional wing back can keep the offense humming, the Hounds will be tough for anyone to beat. On the other hand, if Dixon’s success draws extra defensive attention, that should open space for others, such as Tommy Williamson and Louis Pérez working the middle or the opposite flank.
3.) Think vertical
No, not the Hounds when attacking, although Cicerone’s first goal on Sunday showed that can sometimes be a good idea, too.
This is a return to the Hounds’ biggest defensive flaw — susceptibility to the big, direct ball — which Hartford exploited for a Derek Dodson goal before nearly grabbing a 2-0 lead going straight down the middle last match.
No amount of tactics or game planning is going to change what needs to be done. The Hounds defense, regardless of who the starting group is, has to recognize situations where they don’t have cover or are caught too high up the field, and they have to drop back and recover before those situations unfold rather than reacting and chasing when it’s already too late.
