Julian Hall Becomes Youngest to Hit 10 Goals in an MLS Season as Red Bulls Beat NYCFC 1-0

The week Julian Hall just had belongs in a coming-of-age movie. On Thursday, the 18-year-old learned he had earned his first call-up to the U.S. Men's National Team. On Friday night, with USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino in the building at Yankee Stadium, the Manhattan native chased down a loose back pass, went around Matt Freese and scored the only goal of the Hudson River Derby.

Red Bull New York beat New York City FC 1-0, and Hall's 57th-minute winner was his 10th goal of the season. According to the Red Bulls, that makes him the youngest player in MLS history to reach 10 goals in a single season, at 18 years and 178 days old. Not a bad couple of days.

A Derby Built on Fouls and Nerves

The first half was exactly what a mid-September derby with points at a premium tends to look like: lots of whistles, lots of yellow cards and very little cleanly struck. Adri Mehmeti was booked in the sixth minute, Cade Cowell in the 22nd and Mohammed Sofo in the 40th, while NYCFC's Nico Cavallo picked up a caution of his own in the 30th.

NYCFC had more of the ball and the better looks. Andrés Perea forced Ethan Horvath into a save in the 18th minute, Nicolás Fernández Mercau and Aiden O'Neill both missed the target, and the Red Bulls' best chance of the half arrived in stoppage time, when Sofo shot wide from the left side of the six-yard box after a corner. Scoreless at the break, which felt about right.

Hall Pounces

The second half opened with chances at both ends. Hall dragged a shot wide in the 47th minute at the end of a fast break started by Cowell, Horvath kept out Hannes Wolf in the 51st, and Luighi missed to the right a minute later.

Then came the mistake. In the 57th minute, a back pass toward Freese had too little on it, Hall sprinted onto it, rounded the goalkeeper and finished. The kicker: according to MLSsoccer.com, Hall grew up in the NYCFC academy before moving to the Red Bulls. He had just punished his old club in the most painful way possible.

Head coach Michael Bradley loved the effort that created it. "It's a great play from him to go forward and force a mistake, and then he does really well to go around Freese and score the goal," Bradley said.

Horvath Slams the Door

NYCFC sent on Bénie Traoré and Alonso Martínez just after the hour and pushed hard. Martínez missed narrowly in the 76th minute and again in the 83rd, and Traoré sent one high and wide in the 77th. Horvath saved his best for late: a Thiago Martins header in the 81st and a Traoré effort from very close range two minutes into stoppage time.

The Red Bulls, meanwhile, defended in numbers and looked to break when they could. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, on for Hall in the 84th minute, had a late chance to make it two but put it high and wide.

Stars of the Night

Julian Hall scored on one of his three shots and turned one opposing mistake into a derby winner. The Red Bulls say his 10 goals are the third most in a single MLS season by a teenager.

Ethan Horvath made four saves, and the Red Bulls kept their fourth clean sheet of the season and their third in four matches, per the club. Bradley spread the credit around: "There's a lot of guys who make some big plays, some big blocks, some really hard reactions. That's the sign of a real team."

Julián Bazán and Tim Parker anchored a defense that made 26 clearances. The Red Bulls' site called the center back pair dominant, and the numbers back that up.

Andrés Perea was NYCFC's busiest attacker with three shots and five fouls drawn, but the hosts put only four of their 16 attempts on target.

The Turning Point

The back pass. NYCFC controlled long stretches, held 62.9 percent possession and outshot the Red Bulls 16-10. One loose ball undid all of it. Derbies are rarely won by the team that plays the prettier soccer, and this one went to the kid who refused to give up on a lost cause.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: NYCFC 62.9 percent, Red Bulls 37.1 percent.
• Shots on target: NYCFC 4, Red Bulls 1. The Red Bulls needed exactly one.
• Saves: Horvath 4, Freese 0.
• Fouls: The Red Bulls committed 19 to NYCFC's 10 and took three of the game's five yellow cards.
• Clearances: 26 for the Red Bulls, a measure of how much defending they had to do.

What It Means

The Red Bulls improved to 9-6-11 with 33 points and, per MLSsoccer.com, climbed into eighth in the Eastern Conference, above the playoff line. They have now won two straight, both 1-0 on the road, after a six-match winless run, and they closed a four-match road trip with seven points. The win also clinched the 2026 Hudson River Derby Trophy for the Red Bulls, per the club, after the sides drew 1-1 in May. MLSsoccer.com says it was their first Hudson River Derby win since the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.

NYCFC fell to 8-8-10 with 32 points, one behind their rivals. The loss came right after a 2-0 win at Real Salt Lake that had snapped a seven-match winless stretch. Next up, the Red Bulls host St. Louis CITY SC on Sept. 26, a first-ever meeting per the club, and NYCFC visit Atlanta United the same night.

The Closing Take

Bradley already has his viewing plans for the international window sorted. "I'm really excited to, over the next few weeks, sit on the couch and watch the national team with Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti," he said. A New York teenager, a rival left wondering how he got away, and a bigger stage waiting. That is basically the plot of a Spider-Man movie, minus the web-shooters.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and club notes as reported by NewYorkRedBulls.com and MLSsoccer.com; schedule details from the AP recap via ESPN.