FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution II (1-1-0, 3 pts.) opened the home portion of its 2021 USL League One schedule with a 3-0 loss to the Richmond Kickers (1-0-0, 3 pts.) on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The visitors carried a 2-0 lead into the halftime break before sealing the victory with an unassisted goal in stoppage time.
New England’s attack recorded eight shots in the defeat, six of which were logged in the second half. Defender Sean O’Hearn, who earned USL League One Player of the Week honors after last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Fort Lauderdale, guided Revolution II’s defense with a team-best four tackles and three clearances in his second consecutive 90-minute performance. O’Hearn also led New England with 96 touches while collecting eight duels won, eight possessions gained and one interception.
Midfielder Michel Costa da Silva became the became the 25th player in Revolution II history to make his professional debut with a 22-minute performance off the bench.
Three Revolution first-team players featured for Revolution II in Saturday’s contest as midfielder Luis Caicedo and defender Christian Mafla each logged 76 minutes of action, while goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. started in net and registered two saves.
“I think it's great to be able to see those guys and see what makes them a first team player,” said Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay. “But in terms of how it affected the group in general, I think our young guys are making progress and I thought actually, when we put the young guys on at end, they showed some good signs and were positive and in play and courageous and brave in their play to go forward.”
Three Revolution Academy players registered appearances off the bench as midfielders Noel Buck, Hikaru Fujiwara, and Michael Tsicoulias each entered the match in the second half. Tsicoulias completed all seven pass attempts over a 13-minute outing.
New England will be off from regular-season play until Wednesday, May 12 when 2020 USL League One runner-up Union Omaha pays its second-ever visit to Foxborough. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. and is available on ESPN+.
“I think it's good we got a couple games in early, actually,” said Revolution II forward Connor Presley. “Now we have the opportunity to go to work, continue to build that chemistry on the training field and then build that into our next gamess in three and a half weeks.”
Richmond Kickers 3, New England Revolution II 0
April 17, 2021 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
Three Academy Players Feature as Substitutes for Revolution II
- Midfielders Noel Buck and Hikaru Fujiwara, and forward Michael Tsicoulias all featured for Revolution II on Saturday night as second-half substitutes.
- Fujiwara played 21 minutes, recording one shot and one key pass while Buck and Tsicoulias each saw 13 minutes.
Five First-Team Players Earn Minutes
- Five Revolution first-team players featured in Saturday’s match for New England – goalkeeper
- Earl Edwards Jr., defender Christian Mafla, midfielder Luis Caicedo and Damian Rivera, and forward Justin Rennicks – tying last season’s single-game high.
- Edwards played the full contest in goal, notching a pair of saves in the defeat.
- Mafla and Caicedo both played 77 minutes as they continue to work back to full health. The duo each received a yellow card as Mafla won a team-high five fouls and completed 85.7 percent of his passes and Caicedo finished with 91 percent passing accuracy.
- Rennicks and Rivera earned their second starts of the season, playing 68 and 77 minutes, respectively. Rennicks completed 83.3 percent of his passes and Rivera registered one shot.
Michel Costa da Silva Makes His Professional Debut
- Midfielder Michel became the 25th player in Revolution II history to make his professional debut for the club, coming on as a second-half substitute for the final 22 minutes of the match.
- The 19-year-old completed 17 passes and added a tackle and an interception in the midfield while winning all three of his duels.
Revs II Makes Four Changes to Starting XI from Season Opener
- Goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr., defender Christian Mafla and Colby Quinones, and midfielder Luis Caicedo all earned spots in the Revolution II lineup on Saturday, replacing Joe Rice, Ryan Spaulding, Noel Buck, and Hikaru Fujiwara.
- Quinones made his season-debut and his first appearance since signing with the team directly from the Revolution Academy in the offseason. In 69 minutes, the 18-year-old had three interceptions and three recoveries and completed 86.5 percent of his passes.
GAME CAPSULE
Referee: Thomas Snyder
Assistant Referees: Amilcar Sicaju (AR1), Ian Mangione (AR2)
Fourth Official: Jeremy Scheer
Weather: 51 degrees and mostly cloudy
Scoring Summary:
RIC – Jonathan Bolanos (Hernan Gonzalez) 35’
RIC – Juan Pablo Monticelli (Jonathan Bolanos) 45’+2
RIC- Oalex Anderson (unassisted) 90+3’
Misconduct Summary:
RIC – Jonathan Bolanos (Yellow Card – Bad Foul) 36’
NE – Christian Mafla (Yellow Card – Bad Foul) 70’
NE – Luis Caicedo (Yellow Card – Persistent Infringement) 76’
RIC – Zaca Moran (Yellow Card – Persistent Infringement) 79’
NE - François Dulysse (Yellow Card – Bad Foul) 88’
New England Revolution II: Earl Edwards Jr.; Christian Mafla (Ryan Spaulding 76’), Sean O’Hearn, François Dulysse, Colby Quiñones (Hikaru Fujiwara 68’), Jake Rozhansky ©, Luis Caicedo (Noel Buck 76’), Damian Rivera (Michael Tsicoulias 76’); Connor Presley, Justin Rennicks (Michel 68’), Ryan Sierakowski.
Substitutes Not Used: Joe Rice, Cole Dewhurst.
Richmond Kickers: Akira Fitzgerald; Juan Pablo Monticelli, Ivan Magalhaes, Jalen Crisler, Ian Antley (Luke Pavone 28’); Emiliano Terzaghi (Cameron Vickers 90’+3), Zacarías Morán Correa, Victor Falck; Matthew Bolduc, Hernan Gonzalez (Oalex Anderson 72’), Jonathan Bolanos (Stanley Alves 72’).
Substitutes Not Used: Austin Aviza, Nil Vinyals, Nathan Aune.
