FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Major League Soccer MVP candidate Lee Nguyen scored the only goal of the game as the New England Revolution earned a 1-0 win over Toronto FC on Saturday at Gillette Stadium. Nguyen’s goal pushed his season total to 18, tied for third in MLS this season and the second-highest total by a midfielder in MLS history.

New England (17-13-4, 55 pts.) took the lead in the 35th minute when Jose Goncalves chipped a pass over to Chris Tierney on the left flank. Tierney cut the ball back to Nguyen inside the area and Nguyen slotted a right-footed shot past Toronto FC goalkeeper Joe Bendik for his league-leading ninth game-winning goal of the season. Toronto FC (11-15-8, 41 pts.), who did not advance to the postseason, forced Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth into four saves en route to his eighth shutout of the season.

With the win, the Revolution were unbeaten in their last nine home games of the regular season - going 8-0-1 in that time. The Revs closed the regular season with a 9-1-1 record in their final 11 games.

The Revs will enter the MLS Cup Playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed next week. The Revolution will play the No. 3 seed on the road either November 1 or 2 in Leg 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, before returning home to Gillette Stadium for Leg 2 on November 9. The third seed will be determined on Sunday, October 26, when the final regular-season matches are played, and will be either Sporting Kansas City, Columbus Crew or New York Red Bulls. Tickets for the Revs’ home playoff match are available for purchase now at revolutionsoccer.net or through all Ticketmaster outlets.

Key Plays

• 9’ – TFC’s Dominic Oduro delivers a bouncing cross to Gilberto, whose well-timed, leaping volley from the top of the area connects with the crossbar | WATCH THE PLAY
• 17’ – NE’s Bobby Shuttleworth extends to his left to punch away a left-footed shot from Daniel Lovitz before the rebound falls to the feet of TFC’s Collen Warner, who sails his follow-up shot over the crossbar | WATCH THE PLAY
• 35’ – NE GOAL: Jose Goncalves plays the ball outside to Chris Tierney, who makes a diagonal pass to Lee Nguyen at the top of the six, and Nguyen calmly finishes into the corner of the net, through a maze of Toronto defenders | WATCH THE PLAY
• 38’ – NE’s Scott Caldwell unleashes a shot from just inside the Toronto area which is parried away by Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik | WATCH THE PLAY

Halftime: New England Revolution 1, Toronto FC 0

• 61’ – YELLOW CARD: TFC’s Justin Morrow shown a yellow card for a foul on Lee Nguyen | WATCH THE PLAY
• 66’ – NE’s Jermaine Jones makes a strong drive toward the goal, but sees his left-footed shot sail high and wide to the left | WATCH THE PLAY
• 71’ – NE’s Kelyn Rowe finds himself alone on goal and tries to beat Joe Bendik with a gentle lob but his attempt floats over the crossbar | WATCH THE PLAY
• 75’ – NE’s Bobby Shuttleworth makes a desperation save, leaping to punch Luke Moore’s header from the six safely over the crossbar | WATCH THE PLAY
• 89’ – NE’s Jose Goncalves delivers a cross to Daigo Kobayashi, whose right footed shot from the side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the right | WATCH THE PLAY

Final Score: New England Revolution 1, Toronto FC 0
Santander Man of the Match

• LEE NGUYEN – Unveiled as the Revolution’s 2014 Most Valuable Player before the game, Nguyen scored the game’s only goal in the 35th minute to help the Revs match the club record with 17 wins.

Next Game
The Revolution will head out on the road for the first leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the East’s No. 3 seed. The date, time and opponent for that game will be decided on Sunday evening following the regular-season finale between Sporting Kansas City and New York. The Revs will host the second leg of that series at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, November 9 with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m.

New England Revolution vs. Toronto FC
October 25, 2014 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

New England Revolution 1, Toronto FC 0

Scoring Summary:
NE -- Lee Nguyen 18 (Chris Tierney 5, Jose Goncalves 2)  35

Misconduct Summary:
TOR – Justin Morrow (Yellow Card) 61’

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth; Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves ©, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; Jermaine Jones (Andy Dorman 67’), Scott Caldwell; Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen (Daigo Kobayashi 62’), Diego Fagundez; Charlie Davies (Patrick Mullins 80’).

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Steve Neumann

STATS: Shots 15, Shots on target 4, Saves 4, Corner kicks 6, Offsides 2, Fouls 7, Possession 40.7%, Passes 365 (74.2%)

Toronto FC: Joe Bendik; Mark Bloom, Steven Caldwell ©, Doneil Henry, Justin Morrow; Collen Warner (Warren Creavalle 71’), Michael Bradley, Kyle Bekker; Dominic Oduro (Andrew Wiedeman 90’), Gilberto, Daneil Lovitz (Luke Moore 63’).

Substitutes Not Used: Chris Konopka, Bradley Orr, Ashtone Morgan, Chris Mannella

STATS: Shots 7, Shots on target 4, Saves 3, Corner kicks 3, Offsides 2, Fouls 11, Possession 59.3%, Passes 549 (82.5%)

Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Assistant Referees: Brian Dunn (AR1) and Matthew Nelson (AR2)
Fourth Official: Alan Kelly

Weather: Clear and 61 degrees
Attendance: 32,766

Team Records:
Toronto FC: 11-15-8, 41 pts.
New England Revolution: 17-13-4, 55 pts.

Additional Game Notes

• With the win, the Revolution finish the regular season with a 17-13-4 on the season for 55 points … they finish the season alone in second place in the East, four points behind first place D.C. United.
• The Revs finish the season with an 11-4-2 home record for 35 of their 55 points … they are now 7-0-1 in their eight games at Gillette Stadium dating back to July 30.
• This was the third and final game of the season against Toronto FC as the Revolution won all three contests … the first two matches between the two sides were played at BMO Field in Toronto … this is the first season that one of the two team swept the season series
• New England’s 17 wins ties a club record that was set in 2005 … those 17 wins are tied for the second-most in MLS this season, equaling D.C. United and the LA Galaxy.
• The Revs’ 55 points are the second-most in club history, bested only by the club’s record total of 59 points in 2005.
• A crowd of 32,766 was on hand at Gillette Stadium for the game … that is the third-highest crowd for a stand-alone Revolution in Gillette Stadium history, which opened in 2002 … it is the second-highest attendance for a regular-season game hosted by any Eastern Conference club this year.
• The Revs finish the season with an average attendance of 16,682 … this is New England’s best season average attendance since 2008.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made four changes to the team that beat the Houston Dynamo 2-1 last Thursday night … Chris Tierney, Jermaine Jones, Diego Fagundez and Charlie Davies all returned to the starting XI, replacing Darrius Barnes, Daigo Kobayashi, Steve Neumann and Patrick Mullins … all four of those players began the game on the bench.
• Teal Bunbury missed his second consecutive game with right hamstring tightness … the Revs were also without Shalrie Joseph (left groin strain), Stephen McCarthy (left meniscus surgery) and Luis Soffner (right ankle sprain) because of injury.
• Lee Nguyen gave the Revs a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute with his 18th goal of the season … the 18 goals leave him tied with Raul Diaz Arce for the second-best goal scoring season in club history.
• The goal was Lee Nguyen’s MLS-best ninth game-winning goal of the season … the nine game-winners are tied for the second most in a single season in league history.
• Lee Nguyen finishes the season with 18 goals, which are the most by a midfielder in MLS since Alex Pineda Chacon had 19 goals for the Miami Fusion in 2001.
• Dating back to July 30, Lee Nguyen has 12 goals and four assists in 14 games with the Revs going 10-2-2 in that time.
• New England is now 14-1-2 when Lee Nguyen scores a goal or registers an assist.
• Chris Tierney was credited with the only assist on Nguyen’s goal, giving him five on the season … the five assists tie a career-high for Tierney, equaling a mark that he set in 2012 and then matched in 2013.
• Tierney now has 26 assists in his Revolution career, tied with his current head coach and former teammate Jay Heaps for seventh place in club history.
• Daigo Kobayashi came on in the 62nd minute, replacing Lee Nguyen … he was the only Revolution player to appear in all 34 regular season games this season
• Daigo Kobayashi is the second Revolution player to appear in every regular season game that the club played since the schedule was extended to 34 games ahead of the 2011 season … Jose Goncalves played in and started all 34 regular-season games that the club played in 2013.
• Andy Dorman came on for Jermaine Jones in the 67th minute … it was his first appearance for the club since July 12 against Chicago when he suffered a sprained right MCL … this was Dorman’s 140th appearance for the club.
• Bobby Shuttleworth made four saves for his eighth shutout of the season … the eight shutouts are one shy of matching his career-high of nine, which he set in 2013.
• This was New England’s second 1-0 win of the season … the Revs finish the season with a 15-0-1 record when scoring two or more goals … the team had a 2-13-3 mark when scoring fewer than two goals.
• Lee Nguyen was fouled three times on the night, giving him a Revolution-record 78 fouls suffered on the season … he had entered the game tied with Alberto Naveda for the most fouls suffered by a Revolution player in a campaign … he entered the weekend third in the league in fouls suffered.
• No Revolution players were sent off in the contest meaning that every player on the club’s roster will be eligible to play in the postseason opener next weekend.