Julian Hall’s Record Hat Trick Is Still His Last League Goal

Julian Hall still has nine MLS goals in 2026, and three of them came in one night in May. On May 13 at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the New York Red Bulls forward scored every goal in a 3-2 win over Columbus. He was 18 years and 50 days old, the youngest hat trick the league has logged.

He has not scored in the league since. On Aug. 27, New York still signed him through the 2029-30 season on a U-22 slot.

His League Scoring Still Stops on May 13

Hall, a Manhattan homegrown listed at 5-foot-9 and 161 pounds, wears No. 16. Through a 0-0 draw at Seattle on Sept. 5 he had started all 23 of New York’s league games and still sat on those same nine goals, with three assists. The treble against Columbus was also the last time he put the ball in an MLS net.

That is the odd shape of his year. He is the ever-present starter. He is an All-Star. He scored three times in two U.S. Open Cup appearances. The league column did not move after May 13.

THE 2026 SNAPSHOT

• Age on May 13: 18 years and 50 days, born March 24, 2008.
• League goals: Nine in 23 games, all of them before May 17.
• After the record: Zero league goals in the next 10 starts.
• The contract: Four years, U-22 slot, through 2029-30.

He came into 2026 with three league goals in 38 regular-season appearances across 2023, 2024, and 2025. The burst was real. It also stopped on the night the league wrote his name into the record book.

Cowell Served the First Two Goals

Columbus had more of the ball. New York had Hall in the six-yard box. Cade Cowell, arriving from the right, created the first two. Rafael Mosquera’s corner and Gustav Berggren’s header created the third, after the Crew keeper spilled the ball.

Max Arfsten had tied the match in the 22nd minute. Diego Rossi leveled it again from the spot in the 64th, after an Omar Valencia handball. Ethan Horvath made two saves. The Red Bulls left on 18 points, 5-5-3, sixth in the East, with a second straight win after a five-game slide.

THE THREE GOALS

• Seventh minute: Emil Forsberg slipped Cowell wide, and Hall tapped in the cross from close range.
• 40th minute: Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty found Cowell on the right, and Hall finished the driven ball first time.
• 79th minute: Mosquera’s far-post corner, Berggren’s header, and Hall stretching into the bottom right.

The club recap timed the night at the seventh, 40th and 79th minutes. Cowell finished with two assists, his second multi-assist game for New York. Hall had four shots on target. He left as the league’s youngest hat-trick scorer and, by Matchday 13, tied for fourth in the Golden Boot race, with three game-winning goals. Those three winners were 60 percent of New York’s five victories to that point.

I heard it earlier after the game, and I’m not going to lie, I got kind of emotional. It just makes me think about all the times I was working so hard to make memories like this. I’m just really grateful and thankful for the guys that set me up and put me in a great position.

Julian Hall, forward, after the Columbus match

MLS posted the clip the same night. Head coach Michael Bradley, asked about the 18-year-old, kept the temperature down on purpose.

Jules is a great kid. Nothing’s going in his head. He comes in every day ready to work, ready to train, ready to listen. He has great personality. He has really good starting points as a player. And I’ve enjoyed every second of working with him.

Michael Bradley, Red Bulls head coach, post-match

Bradley also joked about All-Star votes and then said he would pick Hall if he were on another bench. The league later did put him on the 2026 All-Star roster, at 18 years and 106 days, the second-youngest All-Star in club history. By Matchday 13 he had already won Player of the Matchday twice, after a brace in the Feb. 21 opener at Orlando, and trailed only Freddy Adu on the list of youngest two-time winners. A media panel from the North American Soccer Reporters cast 75 percent of that vote, with an Instagram poll covering the rest.

https://x.com/MLS/status/2054736223323771275

Ten More Starts Added Zero League Goals

The next league date was a 1-1 Hudson River Derby on May 16. Hall did not score. At Sporting Kansas City on May 24 he picked up an assist in a 2-1 win and still did not score. Then the calendar opened for the World Cup. When MLS resumed in late July, the finishing did not.

He played the full 90 in a 0-0 at Seattle on Sept. 5, created one chance, and missed one big chance. Opta’s season file still lists the Columbus treble as his last league strike, in the seventh, 40th, and 78th-to-79th minute window the match reports share.

THE 2026 LEAGUE SPLIT

The Open Cup column is the counter. Hall made two appearances there, scored three times, and logged 135 minutes. Across those cups and the league he sits on 12 goals in 25 games in 2026. The drought is a league drought, not a disappearance. He kept starting. He kept shooting. The regular-season net stopped moving.

New York did not treat that freeze as a reason to sell. It treated it as a reason to extend.

The Last Record Holder Moved to Germany

Ricardo Pepi set the mark Hall broke. On July 24, 2021, the FC Dallas homegrown scored in the 27th, 44th, and 50th minutes of a 4-0 win over the LA Galaxy, and the club logged him as 18 years and 196 days old. MLS Communications had the previous holder as Kekuta Manneh, 18 years and 283 days, for Vancouver against Seattle on Oct. 9, 2013.

Hall is 146 days younger than Pepi was that night. The league’s own match note called it the youngest regular-season hat trick in MLS history.

THE AGE MARKS

Pepi’s path after the record is the one European scouts still recite. He left Dallas, landed at Augsburg, and walked into Mauricio Pochettino’s 26-man World Cup squad as a center forward. He came off the bench in the 72nd minute of a 1-4 round-of-16 loss to Belgium. Hall watched that tournament from the MLS calendar. The same record, five years later, bought him a longer stay in Harrison, not a winter ticket out.

By May 14, Hall’s 12 career MLS goals tied him with Adu and Danny Mwanga for fifth among teenagers. He had been the second-youngest scorer in league history on June 19, 2024, when he came on in the 87th minute at Montréal and scored in the 88th, at 16 years and 87 days, behind only Adu.

Why New York Put Him on a U-22 Slot

On Aug. 27 the club announced a four-year deal through 2029-30. Hall occupies a U-22 initiative spot. At 18 years and 156 days he became the youngest American on that kind of contract, and the first Red Bulls academy product to sign one. Terms were not disclosed.

League U22 Initiative roster slots let a club pay a young player without burning a full Designated Player charge. A homegrown on a second contract can hold the slot through the year he turns 25, if he signed at 22 or younger. Hall turns 18 in the 2026 season and 21 in 2029. The paperwork is a hold, and a bet, at the same time.

Julian has become an important part of our first team, and we believe he will continue to play a significant role for us. He has earned the trust of his teammates and coaching staff through his performances, his mentality, and the way he continues to grow. This new contract reflects how highly we value Julian and the role we see him playing for our club.

Julian de Guzman, Red Bulls head of sport, club announcement

Hall’s own statement stayed local. “I’m really happy to sign a new contract with Red Bull New York,” he said. “This club has been a huge part of my development, and I’m grateful for everyone who has believed in me and helped me get to this point. I feel like I’m continuing to grow as a player, and I’m excited to keep working, keep improving and help this team achieve our goals.”

The August conversation around that announcement was not about the drought. It was about how long Harrison can keep a Manhattan forward whose three-goal night already did the marketing for every club that watches MLS tape. The new deal buys time. It does not cancel the interest a record night creates. New York used the roster tool built for that exact problem: pay the kid, keep the charge down, and wait for the finishing to return, or for a fee that matches the clip.

An Open File With Poland

Hall’s full name is Julian Zakrzewski Hall. He has dual citizenship through his mother and has been into Poland youth camps as well as the U.S. pipeline. He scored three goals at the 2023 U-15 Concacaf Championship, which the United States won 4-2 over Mexico in the final, and he made three appearances at the 2025 U-17 World Cup. The senior World Cup in 2026 was the test that did not come.

After the Columbus match he left the door open and pointed at the club. “Whatever happens happens, my focus is with the club,” Hall said. “But obviously it’s a dream of anyone that plays to play in the World Cup. I hope someday that happens, but if it’s not this year, then I’m going to keep working hard and striving for that goal.”

It was not this year. Pochettino’s 26 did not include him. Hall later said he had had no conversations with the U.S. manager and that he had been “pretty neutral” while both federations showed interest. Patrick Agyemang’s Achilles injury had even opened a stray thought about extra striker depth in May. The extra name was not Hall.

That file is still loose. A U-22 contract in MLS does not cap a senior cap. It does give New York years in which the next federation that calls has to deal with a player who already chose to stay, and who has not scored in the league since the night everyone clipped.

May 13 Belonged to a Whole Age Group

Hall’s night sat on a wider card. The same evening, Philadelphia’s Cavan Sullivan, 16, scored his first MLS goal, and Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo, 19, scored twice. American attacking minutes keep landing younger. Hall is the one who already had a first-team number, a starting job, and then a record.

He joined the academy at 12, scored 28 goals in 39 academy matches, and won U-15 MLS NEXT Cup MVP in 2023 with five tournament goals. The first team signed him as a homegrown on Sept. 7, 2023, at 15 years and 167 days, on a deal through 2026 with a 2027 option. He debuted Sept. 30, 2023, against Chicago, for the last 10 minutes, at 15 years and 190 days, then the third-youngest player in league history behind Sullivan and Adu, and the youngest Red Bulls debutant.

FROM THE ACADEMY TO THE U-22 SLOT

1. September 7, 2023: Signs a homegrown contract through 2026, with a 2027 option, at 15 years and 167 days.
2. September 30, 2023: Debuts against Chicago in the last 10 minutes at 15 years and 190 days.
3. June 19, 2024: Scores in the 88th minute at Montréal, 16 years and 87 days, the second-youngest scorer in MLS history.
4. February 21, 2026: Scores twice in a 2-1 win at Orlando on opening day and wins Player of the Matchday.
5. May 13, 2026: Completes the youngest hat trick in league history in a 3-2 win over Columbus.
6. August 27, 2026: Signs the four-year U-22 contract through 2029-30 at 18 years and 156 days.

Bradley’s line after Columbus was that the staff would keep challenging him. They have. He has started every league match. The finishing that made the record has not come back with him. Across all competitions the first-team file sits at 68 appearances, 16 goals. The league file is 61 appearances, 12 goals, and those last three still belong to one Wednesday in May.

The youngest hat trick in MLS history is a closed fact. The nine-goal league season is not, until he scores again, or until the season ends with the same number. New York already placed its wager. Hall is under contract through 2029-30, still eligible for the United States and for Poland, and still searching for a 10th MLS goal that would finally move the night of May 13 into the past.