Jack Panayotou scored in the 41st minute and again in the 64th minute, leading Hartford Athletic to a 2-0 win over the Portland Hearts of Pine in their opening group stage game of the USL Cup on Saturday in Hartford, Connecticut.
Hearts are in a six-team group that includes four USL Championship teams — Hartford, Rhode Island, Detroit City and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. Westchester FC, like Portland, is in USL League One.
The six group champions in the 38-team competition advance to the quarterfinals, along with the two best second-place teams. Each team plays four games in the group stage, two at home and two away.
Panayotou picked up a red card in the 72nd minute, forcing Hartford to play with only 10 men the rest of the way, but Portland was unable to capitalize as Hartford avenged a loss to Hearts in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.
Up next for Portland is its first USL League One home game, at 6 p.m. next Saturday against One Knoxville SC.
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