TORONTO – The New England Revolution extended their winning streak to five games and their unbeaten streak to seven with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Toronto FC on Sunday evening at BMO Field.
Diego Fagundez
and
Kelyn Rowe
each scored for the Revs, who also benefitted from a Toronto FC own goal, en route to the victory. New England is now alone in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind D.C. United and New York at the top of the conference, and six points ahead of fifth place Toronto FC.
Both teams had chances to open the scoring inside the opening two minutes of the game with
Lee Nguyen
curling a shot just wide of Chris Konopka’s post following a giveaway inside TFC’s penalty area while Robbie Findley hit the crossbar with a looping header off a left wing cross from Sebastian Giovinco.
The Revs would pull in front in the fourth minute when Toronto FC center back Damien Perquis scored an own goal to put the Revs up 1-0.
Jermaine Jones
played
Teal Bunbury
in behind the TFC defense on the right and his low cross across the face of goal was turned into the net by Perquis, who was sliding in to cut out the pass.
Late in the first half, the Revolution doubled their lead as Fagundez scored for his third consecutive game. After an extended buildup, Teal Bunbury clipped a short pass to Lee Nguyen at the corner of the penalty area and he played a square pass across the top of the box for Fagundez, who hit a right-footed shot past the dive of Konopka, giving New England a 2-0 lead that they would take into the halftime break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Toronto FC pulled a goal back with Findley heading a Justin Morrow cross off the post and into the net, making the score 2-1. That goal would end the Revs’ streak of consecutive minutes without allowing a goal at 340, having last conceded on Aug. 1 in a 3-1 home win over Toronto FC.
Kelyn Rowe, who had entered the game just minutes earlier, restored the Revs’ two-goal lead in the 71
st
minute with his fifth goal of the season and the 20
th
of his Revolution career. He combined with Nguyen to take the ball off the foot of Michael Bradley at the top of the penalty area and then hit a low, right-footed shot past Konopka, making the score 3-1 in favor of the Revs. Nguyen was credited with the assist on the goal as well, giving him five in his last two games and a career-best 10 on the season.
Both teams had chances to add to the scoring in the final 15 minutes, but New England would hold on for a 3-1 victory, despite being outshot 21-7 on the evening
Full match highlights and statistics can be found
here
.
Revolution Santander Man of the Match
· LEE NGUYEN – Added two more assists, giving him five in the last two games and 10 on the season while also tying a team-high with two shots. He set up New England’s second and third goals while and nearly gave the team a 1-0 lead in the opening minute, only to see his shot curl just wide.
Next Game
The Revolution will be back in action on Wednesday night when they host the New York Red Bulls at Gillette Stadium. That game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET, will be shown locally on Comcast SportsNet and is available nationally on MLS LIVE. It will also be available locally on the radio, in English on 98.5 The Sports Hub and on WMVX 1570 AM Nossa Radio USA in Portuguese.
New England Revolution at Toronto FC
September 13, 2015 – BMO Field (Toronto, Ont.)
New England Revolution 3, Toronto FC 1
Scoring Summary:
NE – Own Goal (Damien Perquis) 4’
NE – Diego Fagundez 5 (Lee Nguyen 9) 39’
TOR – Robbie Findley 2 (Justin Morrow 2) 55’
NE – Kelyn Rowe 5 (Lee Nguyen 10) 71’
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Jermaine Jones (Yellow Card) 27’
TOR – Robbie Findley (Yellow Card) 51’
NE – Andrew Farrell (Yellow Card) 59’
NE – Kelyn Rowe (Yellow Card) 63’
TOR – Ahmed Kantari (Yellow Card) 74’
New England Revolution:
Bobby Shuttleworth; Jeremy Hall, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney; Scott Caldwell, Jermaine Jones © (Daigo Kobayashi 81’); Teal Bunbury (Kelyn Rowe 62’), Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez; Charlie Davies (Juan Agudelo 68’).
Substitutes Not Used:
Brad Knighton, London Woodberry, Kevin Alston, Steve Neumann.
STATS:
Shots 7, Shots on target 3, Saves 3, Corner kicks 2, Offsides 1, Fouls 18, Possession 39.8%, Passes 346 (70.8%)
Toronto FC:
Chris Konopka; Josh Williams, Damien Perquis (Herculez Gomez 77’), Ahmed Kantari, Justin Morrow; Marco Delgado, Michael Bradley ©, Jonathan Osorio; Robbie Findley, Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore.
Substitutes Not Used:
Joe Bendik, Nick Hagglund, Chris Mannella, Benoit Cheyrou, Jay Chapman, Luke Moore.
STATS:
Shots 21, Shots on target 5, Saves 1, Corner kicks 8, Offsides 0, Fouls 7, Possession 60.2%, Passes 493 (85.6%)
Referee:
Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referees:
Joe Fletcher and James Conlee
Fourth Official:
Chris Penso
Weather:
Rain and 55 degrees
Attendance:
20,257
Team Records:
New England Revolution: 12-9-7, 43 pts.
Toronto FC: 11-12-4, 37 pts.
Additional Game Notes
- With the win, the Revolution are now 12-9-7 for 43 points on the season. They remain alone in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Columbus Crew SC and two points behind D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls, who are tied for first place with 45 points.
- New England is now six points ahead of Toronto FC, who remain in fifth place.
- The Revs are now unbeaten in their last seven games, going 6-0-1 since July 18 when they beat New York City FC 1-0 at Gillette Stadium. The Revs’ seven-game unbeaten streak is the longest active streak in MLS and two games shy of their nine-game unbeaten streak from earlier this year, which is the longest in the league this season.
- The Revolution have won each of their last five games, tying FC Dallas for the longest winning streak in MLS this season.
- This streak is one win shy of equaling the longest winning streak in Revolution history. The club won a record six-straight games during the 2005 season.
- New England has taken 19 of a possible 21 points from its last seven games.
- This was the third and final meeting of the season between the Revolution and Toronto FC. New England finishes the season with a 2-0-1 record against TFC, having also beaten them 3-1 at Gillette Stadium on August 1. In the first meeting between the sides in May, they played to a 1-1 draw in Foxborough.
- The Revs are 5-0-1 in six games against Toronto FC since the start of the 2014 season, including a perfect 3-0-0 record in Canada.
- After failing to win any of their first four visits to BMO Field, the Revolution are now 3-0-3 in the last six games there.
- Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the team that beat Orlando City SC 3-0 last weekend at Gillette Stadium. Jermaine Jones, who missed last weekend’s game while on international duty with the U.S. National Team, and Teal Bunbury each returned to the starting lineup in place of Daigo Kobayashi and Kelyn Rowe.
- Bunbury was making his first start since July 25 at Chicago, having come off the bench in each of the last four games. Kelyn Rowe had started on the right wing in each of those four games.
- Jeremy Hall was making his seventh consecutive start at right back and his first as a visitor at BMO Field since 2011 when he was a member of the Portland Timbers. Hall played for Toronto FC from 2012-2014 before being traded to the Revolution in December. This was the 125th appearance of Hall’s MLS career.
- Bobby Shuttleworth started in goal for New England, making the 100th regular-season appearance of his MLS career.
- The Revolution took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute through an own goal by Toronto FC defender Damien Perquis.
- That was the first own goal scored in a Revolution game this season and the first time that an own goal has been scored for the Revs since May 11, 2014 when Chad Marshall scored an own goal for Seattle Sounders FC in their 5-0 loss to the Revs at Gillette Stadium.
- Jermaine Jones was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the 27th minute for a foul on Jozy Altidore. He will now be suspended for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Red Bulls at Gillette Stadium.
- Jones is the second Revolution player this season to be suspended for yellow card accumulation, joining Andy Dorman, who was suspended for the May 23 draw with D.C. United and the June 27 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
- Diego Fagundez doubled New England’s lead in the 39th minute with his fifth goal of the season and third in as many games.
- Fagundez has now scored in each of his last three games. This is the third time in his career that he has scored in three straight games. He scored in a career-best four straight games from May 11-June 2, 2013.
- All five of Fagundez’s goals this season have come between the 37th and 51st minutes with four of them being game-winners. No other Revolution player has more than two game-winning goals on the year.
- New England is now 8-0-1 since the start of the 2014 season when Fagundez scores.
- Toronto FC cut New England’s lead to 2-1 in the 55th minute thanks to a Robbie Findley goal. That goal ended New England’s shutout streak at 340 minutes and was the first goal that the club had allowed since Aug. 1.
- The 340 minute shutout streak was the fourth-longest in MLS this season and the fourth-longest in club history.
- That was also the second-longest shutout streak of Bobby Shuttleworth’s MLS career.
- Juan Agudelo came into the game in the 68th minute for the 100th regular-season appearance of his MLS career.
- Kelyn Rowe rounded out the scoring in the 71st minute with his fifth goal of the season and his third as a substitute.
- He has now scored five or more goals in each of his last three seasons.
- Rowe now has 20 goals in his Revolution career and is the seventh player in club history with 20 goals and 20 assists, joining Shalrie Joseph, Joe-Max Moore, Lee Nguyen, Pat Noonan, Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman.
- Nguyen was credited with the assist on Rowe’s goal, giving him two on the game. That was his second consecutive multi-assist game and the fourth of his career
- He now has five assists in his last two games and 10 on the season, becoming the first Revolution player to record 10 or more assists in a season since Steve Ralston did in 2007.
- During New England’s current seven-game unbeaten streak, Nguyen has three goals and seven assists.
