After earning a draw on the road against New York City Football Club II in their third game of the season, the Baby Bulls have won five of their last six games heading into the second Hudson River Derby of the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro season.
This Sunday, the second Hudson River Derby of the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro season kicks off at MSU Soccer Park on the campus of Montclair State University. The visitors will be New York City Football Club (NYCFC) II and the hosts, Red Bull New York II.
While Red Bull New York II are unbeaten in 2026, one of the only games which they have not earned three points from this season came on the road vs NYCFC II. On March 15, the Baby Bulls drew 1-1 with their bitter rivals from across the Hudson river and fell 4:5 in a penalty shootout.
The Baby Bulls come in to this derby first place in the Eastern Conference while NYCFC could not be in a much more different spot. The Sky Blues are currently 13th in the conference but you don’t need to look far to find their most recent victory as it came two weeks ago vs Chicago Fire FC II.
On the other hand, Red Bull New York II have won five games in a row, their most recent a 2-1 road win over Toronto FC II, where captain Nate Worth and forward Andy Rojas scored.
This matchup comes just days after Red Bulls Academy product and former Red Bulls II forward Julian Hall became the youngest player in Major League Soccer (MLS) history to score a hat trick in an MLS game. MLS NEXT Pro is all about providing the tools and environment that players need to find their way to the next level.
Red Bulls II head coach Dominik Wohlert praised Hall’s achievement and also shed some light on how others might reach the same heights thanks to Red Bull New York.
Obviously, it’s a fantastic achievement from Jules now and it’s another day where he proved he can be something special. I think he’s still on the way to work his way up and we all know for multiple years, and we are just happy for him. Obviously it helps all of the stories he’s writing and creating. That’s exactly the pathway we want to open even more often, hopefully players follow his footsteps and hopefully they get a bit inspired by his journey. – RBNY II Head Coach Dominik Wohlert
Totowa native Aidan Stokes, who was Red Bulls II’s number one in 2025 before he left for the U-17 World Cup in Qatar, has split goalkeeping duties with 17-year-old Tobias Szewczyk and 22-year-old Tomas Hut so far this year. While each goalkeeper reaching MLS NEXT Pro is an accomplishment and testament to Red Bull’s commitment to developing young players, Stokes and Szewczyk are true Red Bulls academy success stories.
Both goalkeepers were part of the 2023 U-15 Red Bulls team that won MLS Next cup. Szewczyk, a Morristown native, played for the Red Bulls Academy from the U-12 level up to U-15. He signed a one-year MLS NEXT Pro contract in 2025, has since been under MLS contract as a Homegrown player, and has produced two shutouts from five starts this season.
Stokes took a different path to MLS NEXT Pro. The 18-year-old joined the Red Bull organization in 2023 and represented them from the U-15 to U-17 levels in the academy. While he was doing this, he trained with Red Bulls II and the MLS side in preseason camps, gaining experience against players who were older than him.
Stokes reflected on how Red Bull have aided his developmennt, from the academy to now playing in starting elevens with players like Julián Bazán who have played senior professional soccer.
“From the moment I came, it’s been really great. You know, the coaching staff are very hands on. They put time into your individual development, as well as your development and chemistry as a team. And you can see that’s paying off massively with Jules [Hall], Adri [Mehmeti], Matty [dos Santos], all having success. Tanner [Rosborough] as well, getting minutes with the first team, and that comes from having that connection with Michael [Bradley] from last year and having such a successful NEXT Pro season. And also the older guys as well, they’ve been really welcoming and adaptive because I’m sure many of them aren’t used to such a young group of guys. Red Bulls has always been really good in that aspect of making players like us, young players, feel at home, welcome, and give us even more motivation to want to perform at that first team level.”
NYCFC II have a New Jersey native of their own and his name is Jacob Arroyave. Now in his fourth season in MLS NEXT Pro with NYCFC II, the Passaic native has been subbed into four games so far this season as a midfielder.
Wohlert has guided the Baby Bulls to their best start through nine games since they joined MLS NEXT Pro in 2023. The Baby Bulls are 7-0-2-0, unbeaten and having won every game except for two draws, one of which was against NYCFC II.
NYCFC II have won just two of their first eight games of the season and one of their largest flaws has been goal-scoring. The junior Pigeons have scored just eight goals– the fewest in MLS NEXT Pro– this season.
Despite all the stats favoring the home side, Stokes is ever vigilant of NYCFC and what they can do in a derby game. He had some interesting comments about the tactical plan for the derby from Red Bull’s perspective.
“It’s going to be an aggressive game and they’re going to want to step to us, they’re going to want the ball the same way we’re going to press them and want the ball from them so you know naturally that leaves spaces elsewhere in the field and I think we have the players and the quality to run in behind and punish them for it if those opportunities do arise. But it’s going to be a tough game. They have quality players, we have quality players and it’s going to be about who wants it more at the end of the day.” – RBNY II goalkeeper Aidan Stokes
While NYCFC II haven’t scored a lot of goals, they’ve given up the fifth-fewest (14). Mac Learned has started seven of the team’s eight games in net and has surrendered only 1.8 goals-per-game. However, the last time these two clubs met in March, first team back-up Tomas Romero was between the sticks and made four saves in regulation and multiple in the penalty shootout.
There have been several outstanding players on this year’s Red Bulls II team, but two that do not get enough attention are the two ‘Aimars’: Aimar Sánchez and Aimar Modelo.
Sánchez is a strong and durable center back who was loaned to RBNY II from CD Plaza Amador in Panama, took hold of a starting role in his team’s second game of the season and hasn’t let go. He has made eight starts and played the full 90 minutes in each.
Modelo has rebounded well from an injury that sidelined him for six months last season. In his second season with RBNY II, the Panamanian has made 7 out of 9 possible appearances and six starts, playing 90 minutes in two at right-back.
Wohlert described what both have done to help the team get to first place this season.
“First of all, especially with Sanchez, a new arrival and someone who immediately impacted our game, I think with his physicality and with his desire to defend, and it’s really from his standpoint, it’s a defender who loves defending moments one on one. And Aimar is taking more responsibility, being someone who’s really enjoying defensive work, but also someone who expresses himself in an offensive way, and that’s exactly what we expect from a fullback position. And in general, I just think it’s a big year for him, a big year to show up to prove his value for the club. And hopefully he can continue and push himself to the next level.” – RBNY II Head Coach Dominik Wohlert
Stokes described the feelings and emotions that athletes experience on the eve of big games and gave a preview of what fans might be able to expect from the derby.
“It’s going to be a game that we’re all looking forward to as a team. You know, these are the kind of games that, when you come to Red Bull, you know that you lose sleep over, that you think about, and you get the most excited for. And it’s going to be a physical game for sure, both teams going at each other. It’s going to come down to who wants it more.” – RBNY II Goalkeeper Aidan Stokes
Wohlert’s team come into Sunday with the second-best record/point total (23) in MLS NEXT Pro’s overall standings. They rank only behind Houston Dynamo 2, who boast a 8-0-1-0 record and 26 points this season. The Dynamo 2 play Saturday night vs Minnesota United 2 and if they lose Red Bull New York II would move ahead of them into first place in the entire league.
The promotions of Rafael Mosquera, Nehuen Benedetti, Mehmeti and Dos Santos to the first team have changed the Baby Bulls roster but have not lowered the bar.
Stokes described how his team has been able to put their MLS NEXT Pro Cup victory in the rear-view mirror and start off this season on the right foot, even setting the bar right back at the very top.
It was the ability, after we were done celebrating, to lock back in. That’s in the past now. People want a new winner, people will only care about who wins the next one now, so that’s our goal and we’re doing really well as a team so far to keep our head down, keep working and mirror what we did last year. Give everything we have and we know we’re good enough, we know we are the best team in this league when we play to the standard we set and [hopefully] that will take us to much more success this year.
Kickoff for MLS NEXT Pro’s Hudson River Derby is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET with coverage available on OneFootball and MLSNEXTPro.com.
