Foxborough, Mass. – The New England Revolution will look to remain undefeated on the new season when the team travels to Vancouver to face its second expansion opponent in as many games on Wednesday evening. Later in the week, the Revs will then host Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, April 9.

Following the team’s 1-1 draw against Portland last Saturday, Revs are now tied for second in the Eastern Conference with a 1-0-2 record and five points.

SERIES INFORMATION VS. VANCOUVER
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Facts And Figures

• Vancouver joined Major League Soccer for 2011 as an expansion team alongside regional rival Portland, bringing the number of teams in MLS to 18.
• Vancouver’s head coach is Teitur Thordarson, who is in his fourth season as head coach with Vancouver, joining the club in 2007 when the team played in the second division. Thordarson came to Vancouver from Iceland’s Reykjavík
• Football Club, where he led the club to a second-place finish in the Úrvalsdeild, and a spot in the Iceland Cup final.
• The Whitecaps came in with an established history in Vancouver, first incorporating in 1973-1984 as a member of the North American Soccer League (NASL), and then later re-incorporating in 1986 as the 86ers in the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) where they won four straight titles (1988-91) and five straight regular-season crowns (1988-92).
• The team is owned by a four-man group: Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett, and Steve Nash … the group also owns the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency Program and women’s team … Luczo is a part-owner of the Boston
• Celtics, while Mallett is a part-owner of the San Francisco Giants … Nash is a two-time NBA most valuable player, and his brother, Martin, is a current assistant coach with the Whitecaps.
• Vancouver played its first-ever MLS game on March 19, 2011, defeating Toronto FC, 4-2, at Empire Field.

New England vs. Vancouver Series Information

• Wednesday’s match will be the first-ever meeting between the New England Revolution and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
• This will be the first of two regular-season meetings between New England and Vancouver this season ... the Revs will host Vancouver in the return match on Saturday, May 14, at Gillette Stadium
• The Revs are 9-8-5 all-time against expansion teams in their inaugural seasons ... that record includes two draws with the Houston Dynamo, which was considered an expansion team after relocating from San Jose in 2006.
• Since 2005, New England is 8-3-5 against expansion teams in their inaugural seasons ... the Revs went 1-5-0 against the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion in 1998, just two years after MLS’ inaugural season.
• Since 2005, the Revs are undefeated – 5-0-3 – in their first meeting against expansion or relocated teams, including last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Portland at home.

Player Notes Vs. Expansion Teams

• Matt Reis is 8-2-5 in his Revolution career against expansion teams, posting an 0.73 goals against average and six shutouts.
• Last Saturday, Stephen McCarthy scored his first-career goal, also coming against an expansion team, in Portland.
• Serbian teammates Marko Perovic and Ilija Stolica each scored goals in their first MLS appearances against an expansion club, as both scored against Philadelphia in 2010.
• Perovic scored an unassisted game-tying goal on a free kick in a 1-1 draw on July 31, in Chester, Pa.
• Stolica had the game’s first goal in a 2-1 loss to the Union on Aug. 28 at Gillette Stadium.
• Kheli Dube scored his first MLS goal in a 2-0 win against San Jose on May 17, 2008, in the team’s first season after returning from a two-year hiatus.

SERIES INFORMATION VS. REAL SALT LAKE
New England vs. Real Salt Lake Series Information

• Saturday’s match will be the 13th all-time meeting between the two clubs since Real Salt Lake entered the league as an expansion team in 2005.
• New England and RSL met twice during the 2010 season, with RSL claiming both victories and outscoring the Revolution, 7-1 … in the teams’ first meeting on July 2, 2010, the Revs suffered their worst loss of the season, 5-0, at Rio Tinto Stadium … in the rematch on Oct. 2, 2010, the Revolution came close to avenging the loss, falling short in a 2-1 defeat at Gillette Stadium.
• The Revs are 2-5-2 in their last nine meetings with Real Salt Lake after going undefeated (2-0-1) in the teams’ first three games.
• Nine of the Revolution’s 15 goals against Real Salt Lake have come in the second half, 60 percent of the club’s total scoring output against RSL.
• New England and Real Salt Lake have never met in any MLS Cup playoff or U.S. Open Cup competitions.
• In the all-time series, RSL has tallied 23 goals against the Revolution, while New England has found the net 15 times in meetings between the two.

Player Notes vs. Real Salt Lake

• Kheli Dube is the team’s active leading scorer against RSL, recording three goals and adding one assist in six games … all three of his goals came in one match – on Aug. 23, 2009 in a 3-1 win at Gillette Stadium.
• Sainey Nyassi is the only other current player who has scored against Real, notching the Revs’ only goal against RSL in the 2010 campaign in the team’s 2-1 loss at home on Oct. 2, 2010
• Three players – Shalrie Joseph, Ryan Cochrane and Marko Perović – have recorded assists against RSL.
• Matt Reis is 4-4-3 in his career against Real Salt Lake, posting a 1.55 goals against average and three shutouts … despite injuries that kept him sidelined early on and towards the end of last season, Reis started in both meetings with RSL in 2010.
• Cochrane leads the current Revolution roster in appearances against RSL with 13, although Saturday’s meeting would be his first as a member of the Revs.

TEAM NOTES

Rarely Undefeated Through THREE
The Revolution enters Wednesday’s game undefeated through the team’s first three games … this marks just the third time in team history that the Revs have been undefeated after the first three games, matching 2009 (2-0-2 through four games) and 2005 (7-0-4 through 11 games – the team’s best-ever start to a season).

MORE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
For the second straight game, the Revolution will face one of the league’s expansion clubs … the Revs will play a total of four matches against first-year teams in 2011, two each against Portland and Vancouver … on Saturday night, New England played to a 1-1 draw against the Timbers at Gillette Stadium.

Great First Impressions
Since 2005, the Revolution is 5-0-3 in the team’s first meeting with an expansion team … in addition to Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Portland, last season’s draw at Philadelphia (1-1) and the 2006 draw against Houston (3-3) are the three ties in the eight total first-ever meetings against expansion teams in the most recent wave of expansion … this will also be the first season since 2005 that the Revs will play two expansion teams in the same season.

LET’S PLAY TWO FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Revs will play two matches this week, traveling to Vancouver on Monday for Wednesday’s midweek match at Vancouver, before flying home on Thursday to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday at Gillette Stadium … this will be the first of at least six times this season that the Revs play two matches in a competition week … there are currently four two-game weeks in the MLS schedule, and the Revs will play two matches the week – still TBA – that the Revs travel either to D.C. or Philadelphia for their U.S. Open Cup Play-In match midweek before a weekend MLS match … additionally, the Revs will play two matches the week they host Manchester United (July 13) and Philadelphia (July 17).

IT’S NOT HOW YOU GET THERE …
The Revs will take a bit of a wayward air route this week when they travel back and forth from Boston to Vancouver … with no direct flights between the two cities, the Revs always needed a lay-over to reach their Canadian destination … however, in order to get the entire travel party of 28 people (18 players, 10 staff) to Vancouver on one flight, the team is flying through Dallas-Ft. Worth to get to Vancouver … the one-way trip will be approximately 3,310 air miles.

LET’S WRAP IT UP QUICKLY
The Revs will face Vancouver for the first time on Wednesday – just four games into the season … the Whitecaps, however, will also be the first team against whom the Revs wrap up a season series … the teams will meet on May 14 at Gillette Stadium, just 39 days after the series starts.

GETTING BUSY WITH GAMES IN APRIL
With six games on the docket in April, the Revs are in the midst of one of their busiest months schedule-wise in 2011 ... the team will play every weekend in April - all five - and travel to Vancouver this week for a midweek match against the league newcomers ... April’s six games match a season-high with August, which also sees six matches scheduled ... in the month of April alone, the Revs will travel approximately 15,000 miles (Vancouver via Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles for Chivas USA) in addition to playing three other home matches.

IT’S A 4-3-3 …
After some debate among fans and media in the first two weeks of the season about what exactly the formation Steve Nicol’s team was running out, it has finally been clarified – it’s a 4-3-3 … the Revs have played four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards in each of the first three games, although some believed the formation to be more of a 4-5-1 earlier on … the front-running trio of Zak Boggs, Zack Schilawski and Sainey Nyassi (Marko Perović in the first game before his injury) has been ahead of the midfield grouping of Shalrie Joseph, Stephen McCarthy and Pat Phelan.

McCARTHY COMES THROUGH
First-year midfielder Stephen McCarthy became the first Revs rookie to open his scoring account in 2011 when he skipped in a rebound against Portland on Saturday night … the 6-foot-4 midfielder first-timed a rebound of Portland defender David Horst’s headed ball, skipping his shot from 20 yards past Timbers keeper Jake Gleeson … he was the first of the Revs’ six rookies – Diego Fagundez, Ryan Kinne, Alan Koger, McCarthy, A.J. Soares and Andrew Sousa – to score a goal this season.

THE SOARES REPORT
With three starts and three 90-minute performances so far this season, A.J. Soares is currently tied with Kansas City’s C.J. Sapong and Columbus’ Rich Balchan for the league lead in rookie minutes played … all three players have played three 90-minute games so far this season … additionally, only five rookies have started all of their teams games so far – Soares, Sapong, Balchan, Houston’s Will Bruin and the Revs’ Stephen McCarthy.