DC United secured a point from one of the wildest Atlantic Cup showdowns in the rivalry’s history on Wednesday night as they drew 4-4 against the New York Red Bulls. Tai Baribo’s first hat trick with the Black-and-Red along with a goal from Jackson Hopkins gave the club a hard earned point against their archrivals.

The match started with DC United thinking they had an early João Peglow goal in the fifth minute. However, the buildup was ruled to be offside, taking the goal off the board. DC fans would have been forgiven if they had thought that a prime chance for them to get early momentum fell by the wayside. With the club having not scored a goal in league play since March 14th, that feeling turned into despair in the 15th minute when Red Bull’s Ronald Donkor was able to break free of Brandon Servania and receive a great ball from Adri Mehmeti. Donkor fed Julian Hall, who fired a shot past Sean Johnson to open the scoring.

Six minutes later, the Red Bulls doubled their lead when Matthew Dos Santos was able to get a cross into the box. The ball deflected past Aaron Herrera to Donkor, who finished quickly to make it 2-0 to Red Bull New York. The two quick goals bamboozled DC United, who now had a big hole to crawl out from to get back into the match.

In the 35th minute, Tai Baribo almost got one back, but his shot was miraculously blocked by Dylan Nealis, Sean Nealis’ brother, leaving DC wondering what they needed to do to get one into the back of the net. The answer was patience, as around 70 seconds later, they had another opportunity. This time, Jackson Hopkins brought the ball into the box and centered it for Baribo, who had open space after Peglow’s run cleared some ground. Baribo buried the finish to bring a goal back for the Black-and-Red.

Jackson Hopkins almost had an equalizer a minute after play restarted, and in the 40th minute, Hopkins was able to feed Baribo once again in the box. Baribo had a free header, but the ball somehow was directed just wide of the net. DC United eventually went into the halftime break down 2-1.

DC came out for the second half hoping to quickly get the equalizer to make it a match. What proceeded was one of the wildest halves in the rivalry’s history. It began in the 52nd minute, when Jorge Ruvalcaba was able to get past Silvan Hefti and then juke Aaron Herrera to create some space. Ruvalcaba then smashed the ball into the roof of the net to make it 3-1 to Red Bull New York.

DC United could have been stunned, but they struck back quickly. Just two minutes later, it was Jackson Hopkins who was able to get the ball on the 2-on-0 break with Tai Baribo from a João Peglow through ball. Hopkins finished it with a shot past Ethan Horvath to make it 3-2.

DC United continued to push for the equalizer, and just five minutes later, they got it. Once again, João Peglow started the break with a great through ball, and this time he fed Tai Baribo, who was all alone on the left central portion of the field. Baribo took a few dribbles and then was able to slot the ball past Ethan Horvath to level the game at 3-3.

Now, it was game on, and it felt like the momentum was squarely in DC’s corner. They had some opportunities to get a go-ahead goal, but couldn’t break through. In the 71st minute, it was Red Bull who once again took the lead. Once again, it was Ruvalcaba who was led into space by some terrific dribbling by Donkor. Ruvalcaba was able to take a couple of dribbles toward the box before curling a shot from outside the box past Sean Johnson into the back of the net to make it 4-3 to Red Bull New York.

This match already had a few haymakers thrown by both sides, and nine minutes later, DC’s #9 connected on his. Matti Peltola found substitute Caden Clark in open space, and Clark found Hefti overlapping into the box. Hefti sent a pass towards the front of the net quickly, and all Tai Baribo had to do was angle his chest and watch the ball bounce off him into the back of the net. It was Baribo’s first hat trick with DC United, and it leveled the score once again, this time at 4-4.

The absolute chaos this game had from start to finish continued all the way into stoppage time. Sean Johnson had to use his entire frame to slide and stop an Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting shot to save the game for the Black-and-Red. A couple minutes later, substitute Jacob Murrell thought he had the match winner for DC United on a heel flick in front of goal off a Jared Stroud cross. However, his goal was waved off for a foul on Murrell.

That was the final opportunity for both teams, as the match ended with 4-4 on the scoreboard and everyone associated with both teams having to exhale deeply and process what they witnessed in Harrison. It was the first time DC United had scored 4 goals in a match since a 4-3 win at Nashville SC on October 2, 2024. And with three comebacks in the match, the team regained the fight it had lost earlier this month.

DC United now has to recover quickly, as they head home to host Orlando City on Saturday night. They hope the goals come back home with them as they try to build on the momentum from the road result against the Red Bulls.