FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution drew 1-1 with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. Lee Nguyen converted a first-half penalty for the home side, but Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake made a Union-record 10 saves to help his side earn a share of the points. New England moved one point closer to a third consecutive playoff berth, but will now need to wait at least one more week in order to officially clinch a spot in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The Revolution dominated the ball in the early stages, having 65.8 percent of the possession in the first half, but struggled to find a way past Philadelphia’s stubborn defense. New England eventually took the lead with a penalty kick in the 36^th minute, after Nguyen was chopped down by Fabinho just inside the Philadelphia area. Nguyen picked himself up to take the penalty kick, finding the bottom left corner past the dive of Blake to make the score 1-0.

The Revs were even more in control in the second half, taking 14 shots and forcing second-year goalkeeper Blake into nine of his 10 saves on the night. Despite the Revs’ dominance, Philadelphia pulled themselves level in the 65^th minute when Warren Creavalle found Fernando Aristeguieta inside the Revolution area, and the forward turned and fired low into Bobby Shuttleworth’s near post to tie the score at 1-1.

Knowing that a win would clinch a postseason berth, the Revs continued to push forward, though they were unable to reclaim their lead. Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe, Juan Agudelo, Diego Fagundez and Jermaine Jones all saw attempts saved by Blake while Shuttleworth was called upon in the 79^th minute to save after substitute Sebastien Le Toux was played in behind the Revolution defense.

New England’s best chance at a late winner came just moments later, when Chris Tierney whipped in a cross from the left that Agudelo headed over Blake and against the crossbar. The Union were unable to clear the rebound and Rowe was able to send in a cross from the right wing that Agudelo acrobatically volleyed on goal, only to see his effort tipped over the bar by Blake to keep the score 1-1.

That result, combined with Columbus Crew SC’s 2-1 home loss to Portland, leave the Revs and Crew SC tied for second place in the Eastern Conference with 47 points from matching 13-10-8 records.

Full match highlights and statistics can be found here.

Revolution Santander Man of the Match

LEE NGUYEN – Scored his sixth goal of the season with a 36^th-minute penalty kick, which was also his third goal from the spot this season. He was a constant threat to the Philadelphia defense, tying game-highs with four shots, two shots on goal and four chances created.

Next Game

The Revolution will be back in action on Saturday night when they travel to Chicago to take on the Fire at Toyota Park. That game, which kicks off at 8:30 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 vs. Philadelphia Union
September 26, 2015 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
New England Revolution 1, Philadelphia Union 1

Scoring Summary:

NE – Lee Nguyen 6 (Penalty Kick) 36’
PHI – Fernando Aristeguieta 5 (Warren Creavalle 1) 65’

Misconduct Summary:

None

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth; Jeremy Hall, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney; Scott Caldwell, Jermaine Jones ©; Kelyn Rowe (Teal Bunbury 82’), Lee Nguyen, Diego Fagundez; Charlie Davies (Juan Agudelo 55’).

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, London Woodberry, Kevin Alston, Andy Dorman, Steve Neumann.

STATS: Shots 20, Shots on target 11, Saves 1, Corner kicks 14, Offsides 1, Fouls 15, Possession 64.8%, Passes 535 (78.7%)

Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Andrew Wenger, Steven Vitoria, Ethan White, Fabinho (Michael Lahoud 46’); Brian Carroll ©, Warren Creavalle; Eric Ayuk Mbu, Cristian Maidana (Sebastien Le Toux 46’), Zach Pfeffer (Vincent Nogueira 78’); Fernando Aristeguieta.

Substitutes Not Used: John McCarthy, Raymon Gaddis, Richie Marquez, Conor Casey.

STATS: Shots 5, Shots on target 2, Saves 10, Corner kicks 0, Offsides 0, Fouls 9, Possession 35.2%, Passes 294 (68.0%)

Referee: Alan Kelly

Assistant Referees: Claudio Badea and Richard Gamache

Fourth Official: Robert Sibiga

Weather: Partly cloudy and 55 degrees

Attendance: 25,885

Team Records:

New England Revolution: 13-10-8, 47 pts.

Philadelphia Union: 9-15-7, 34 pts.

Additional Game Notes

• With the draw, the Revolution are now 13-10-8 for 47 points on the season. They are now tied with Columbus Crew SC for second place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind first place New York and two points ahead of D.C. United in fourth place
• The draw snaps the Revs’ five-game home winning streak. They are now 9-1-6 on the season at Gillette Stadium.
• New England finishes the season series with Philadelphia with a 2-0-1 record, having already won twice in Philadelphia this season.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the team that lost 3-0 to the Montreal Impact on the road at Stade Saputo last Saturday night. Scott Caldwell and Diego Fagundez each returned to the lineup in place of Steve Neumann and Teal Bunbury, who each began the game on the bench.
• Lee Nguyen gave the Revs a 1-0 lead in the 36^th minute, converting a penalty kick after he had been fouled inside the box by Fabinho.
• That was Nguyen’s sixth goal of the season and third from the penalty spot.
• Ten of Nguyen’s 33 career regular-season goals have now come via penalties.
• The Union tied the game in the 65^th minute through Fernando Aristeguieta. That ended the Revs’ streak of 203 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal to the Union.
• Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake made a club-record 10 saves in the game. He is the third goalkeeper to make 10 saves in a game this season.
• Blake is the first goalkeeper to record 10 or more saves in a game against the Revolution since June 8, 2014 when New York’s Luis Robles stopped 10 shots in his team’s 2-0 win at Gillette Stadium.
• The Revs’ 20 shots were tied for their third-most this season while the 11 shots on goal were the second most, topped only by the club’s 13 shots on goal against Real Salt Lake on April 25.
• New England finished the game with 14 corners while the Union had zero.
• Neither Juan Agudelo nor Teal Bunbury were booked in the game, meaning that they are now each one clean game away from having a card expunged from their record.