Julian Hall Hat Trick Turns MLS Record Into Red Bulls Bet

Julian Hall’s MLS hat trick made him the youngest regular-season hat trick scorer in league history at 18 years and 50 days, and it gave Red Bull New York every goal in a 3-2 win over Columbus Crew on May 13 at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Major League Soccer (MLS, the top men’s league in the United States and Canada) later named the forward in the MLS Player of the Matchday announcement after he passed Ricardo Pepi’s age mark.

For Michael Bradley’s side, the value goes beyond a viral clip. A club that has asked teenagers to carry real minutes now has a scoreboard result to match the theory, and the harder question is how quickly one record night becomes a weekly attacking plan.

A Record Night Built From Six-Yard Runs

The three finishes came from places coaches value most: across the face of goal, between defenders, and first to the loose ball. New York’s official account of the match said the opener came in the seventh minute, when Emil Forsberg, the Swedish midfielder, released Cade Cowell down the right and the winger sent a cross into the six-yard area for the teenager to tap home in the club’s official match recap.

The second arrived in the 40th minute from a similar lane. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, the New York defender, played Cowell into space, and another driven cross became another first-time finish. Columbus dragged the match back level after halftime, but the decisive goal came in the 79th minute when Rafael Mosquera, the New York winger, sent in a corner, Gustav Berggren’s header was saved, and the rebound dropped where a striker wants it.

That pattern matters. Young forwards get praised for pace and promise; this was a night built on timing, body shape and the appetite to attack ugly spaces. The record came wrapped in **three clean finishes**, none of them needing a 25-yard wonder strike to explain why the club trusts him.

The Pepi Line Moved by 146 Days

Records can feel sterile until the name being passed has its own weight. Ricardo Pepi, the former FC Dallas forward, set the previous mark at 18 years and 196 days when Dallas beat LA Galaxy 4-0 in July 2021. The new mark cuts that line by 146 days, which is a large gap in a league where teenage records often move by weeks.

Pepi’s mark became part of a familiar American soccer story: homegrown minutes, sudden scoring burst, national-team attention, European interest. Hall has not copied that route yet. He has only made the comparison unavoidable, and that is enough to change the temperature around every start, bench appearance and substitution window from here.

Bradley’s Youth Bet Has a Scoreboard

Michael Bradley, Red Bull New York’s head coach, did not inherit a quiet job. The club announced him in December after he led Red Bull New York II to its first MLS NEXT Pro Cup title, a move that tied the first team even tighter to the development side of the building in the head coach appointment release.

I’m not going to lie, I got kind of emotional, like it kind of just makes me think about all the times I was working so hard to make memories like this.

Julian Hall, Red Bull New York forward, said that after the match. The quote carries because the night was not framed as a cameo. Bradley had already used him as a real option, and MLS said this was his second Player of the Matchday honor of the season, with Lionel Messi, Inter Miami forward, the only other player with multiple wins through Matchday 13.

That is where the bet becomes visible. A coach with a development record can talk about pathways all winter, but supporters judge the project by goals. A teenager scoring all three against Columbus turns the academy conversation from patience to points.

The Hat Trick Was a Service Story Too

Cowell’s role should not get lost under the age record. The New York winger supplied the first two goals and, according to the Red Bulls, moved to five MLS assists for the season. For a young No. 9, service quality often decides whether the next step looks like a breakout or a frustrating education.

The supply map was simple and hard to defend. New York kept attacking the space behind the outside center back, then made Columbus face balls across goal instead of hopeful lofted crosses. That suited the teenage striker’s best trait on the night: arriving before the defender could reset his feet.

• First goal: Forsberg opened the right channel, Cowell crossed low, and the finish came from close range.
• Second goal: Marshall-Rutty found Cowell again, and the winger’s line-driven ball split the Crew back line.
• Third goal: Mosquera’s corner created the scramble, Berggren forced the save, and the loose ball became the winner.

Ethan Horvath, New York’s goalkeeper, made two saves, so this was not a shootout where every chance became a goal. The difference was sharper than that. Columbus had moments; New York had a teenager who treated broken plays as invitations.

MLS Is Getting a Teenage Top Line

The league has had famous teenagers before. Freddy Adu, the former D.C. United forward, carried a national spotlight two decades ago. What feels different this spring is the spread. MLS said Matchday 13 delivered a record 58 goals, and its Team of the Matchday roundup put Hall and Zavier Gozo, Real Salt Lake forward, in the starting front line while Cavan Sullivan, Philadelphia Union homegrown midfielder, made the bench.

That matters for a league trying to turn casual tournament traffic into club habits. Our recent look at MLS viewership shift after Apple’s paywall retreat dealt with the distribution side; nights like this give viewers a player hook that needs no long explanation.

The best part for MLS is also the awkward part for clubs. If teenagers score, the market notices. If they sit, supporters ask why. Hall’s record puts Red Bull New York in that tighter space where development, winning and asset protection all point at the same player.

The Pressure After the Record

The contract line now has extra weight. The player’s official MLS profile lists him as a homegrown signing through 2026 with an option for 2027, and it notes he scored 28 goals in 39 academy matches before reaching the first team. That is a pathway, but it is also a clock.

New York does not need to rush a teenager because of one night. It does need to decide what the record changes. More starts mean more defensive attention, more physical treatment and more film for opponents. Fewer starts invite a different problem, because a player who just carried a 3-2 MLS win will no longer feel like a prospect supporters are content to wait on.

If New York turns the record into a longer run of starts, the May night becomes the first page of a senior scoring season; if the minutes shrink, it becomes the clip everyone remembers while wondering why the pathway slowed.