VANCOUVER – A controversial first-half red card to New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell changed the course of Saturday night’s meeting between the Revs and Vancouver Whitecaps FC as the 10-man Revolution saw a two-goal lead slip away in an eventual 4-3 loss at BC Place.

Early goals from Juan Agudelo and Kelyn Rowe had the Revs (5-5-5, 20 pts.) in complete control after 20 minutes, but Farrell was ejected for an apparent foul on Kenny Miller in the 23rd minute and the Whitecaps (5-5-4, 19 pts.) capitalized on their numerical superiority, scoring three times before the halftime break.

Second-half substitute Dimitry Imbongo pulled one back for the Revs in the 84thminute after Miller had extended Vancouver’s lead to 4-2, but late chances from Lee Nguyen and Rowe went begging as New England had its five-game unbeaten run snapped.

The Revs got off to the perfect start when Agudelo put them in front with just 10 minutes gone. Chris Tierney delivered a pinpoint 50-yard pass out of the back which sprung Agudelo on a breakaway and the Revolution forward made no mistake, drilling his shot past Whitecaps goalkeeper Brad Knighton.

It took just 10 more minutes for the Revs to add a second as Rowe finished a classy team move to make it 2-0. Saer Sene slipped a pass inside the box to Diego Fagundez, who quickly squared the ball to Rowe. After one touch to settle himself, Rowe calmly slotted his shot inside the far post.

But the game took a turn shortly thereafter when the Whitecaps were awarded a penalty and Farrell was issued a straight red card after he was adjudged to have clipped Miller as he shaped to shoot, but replays indicated most of the contact was made when Miller kicked the back of his own foot. Nevertheless, Camilo converted the spot-kick to cut the deficit to 2-1 and snap the Revolution’s club-record 420-minute shutout streak.

New England’s two-goal advantage was erased in the 39th minute when Miller himself made it 2-2. After taking a pass out of the back, Miller flicked the ball over the Revolution’s backline to himself before racing in alone and finishing neatly to the back post.

The Whitecaps found a third in the 43rd minute to make it 3-2 before the halftime break. The ball was sprayed wide to the right wing for Russell Teibert, whose cross to the back post found Jordan Harvey for the first-time finish.

Despite a positive start to the second half in which the Revs controlled much of the possession, it was the home side which scored again to make it 4-2 in the 68th minute. Miller ran onto a long pass before cutting back and hitting a well-placed volley into the upper right corner.

Imbongo set up a grandstand finish when he raced onto a Darrius Barnes through ball and coolly smashed home a shot while holding off a defender, but Rowe directed a stoppage-time effort over the crossbar before Nguyen’s last-gasp free kick was saved by Knighton to preserve the victory for Vancouver.

The Revs have a bye on the schedule next weekend before returning to action in the quarterfinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, June 26, when they’ll visit D.C. United at Maryland SoccerPlex. They’ll return to league play a few days later on Saturday, June 29, when they’ll visit Chivas USA.

New England Revolution at Vancouver Whitecaps FC
June 15, 2013 – BC Place (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 4, New England Revolution 3

Scoring Summary:

NE – Juan Agudelo (Chris Tierney) 10
NE – Kelyn Rowe (Diego Fagundez, Saer Sene) 20
VAN – Camilo (penalty kick) 25
VAN – Kenny Miller (Carlyle Mitchell) 39
VAN – Jordan Harvey (Russell Teibert) 43
VAN – Kenny Miller (Camilo) 68
NE – Dimitry Imbongo (Darrius Barnes) 84

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth, Chris Tierney, Jose Goncalves ©, Stephen McCarthy, Andrew Farrell, Diego Fagundez (Dimitry Imbongo 68), Lee Nguyen, Scott Caldwell, Kelyn Rowe, Saer Sene (Darrius Barnes 29), Juan Agudelo (Ryan Guy 74)

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Reis, A.J. Soares, Chad Barrett, Andy Dorman

STATS: Shots 14, Shots on Target 5, Corner Kicks 3, Saves 2, Fouls 13, Offsides 0, Passes 341 (75.1%), Possession 44.8%

Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Brad Knighton, Jordan Harvey, Johnny Leveron, Carlyle Mitchell, Lee Young-Pyo, Kenny Miller ©, Matt Watson (Kekuta Manneh 66), Daigo Kabayasi, Nigel Reo-Coker (Jun Marques Davidson 79), Russell Teibert, Camilo Sanvezzo (Erik Hurtado 74)

Substitutes Not Used:Joe Cannon, Darren Mattocks, Tommy Heinemann, Adam Clement

STATS: Shots 13, Shots on Target 6, Corner Kicks 1, Saves 2, Fouls 14, Offsides 2, Passes 429 (82.5%), Possession 55.2%

* Note that all statistics are unofficial as supplied by Opta
Misconduct Summary:

NE – Scott Caldwell (caution) 14
NE – Andrew Farrell (ejection) 23
NE – Chris Tierney (caution) 31
VAN – Russell Tiebert (caution) 61
VAN – Carlyle Mitchell (caution) 69
VAN – Kekuta Manneh (caution) 76
NE – Kelyn Rowe (caution) 94+

Referee: Juan Guzman

Assistant Referees: Kevin Duliba (AR1), Jeremy Hanson (AR2)

Fourth Official: Tyler Ploeger
Weather: Sunny, 68 degrees

Attendance: 20,116

Team Records

New England Revolution – 5-5-5 (20 pts.)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC – 5-5-4 (19 pts.)

GAME NOTES

• The loss was the team’s first against Vancouver
• The Revs are now 2-1-1 against Whitecaps FC overall and 0-1-1 in away matches in Vancouver
• The loss also snapped the Revs’ five-game undefeated streak (3-0-2) in league play, which dated back to May 18 … overall, including two U.S. Open Cup matches, the defeat snapped a seven-game unbeaten run (5-0-2)
• Kelyn Rowe returned to the starting lineup, slotting into an attacking central midfield role in place of the injured Juan Toja … it was his first start since May 11
• Juan Agudelo scored his fifth goal of the season and his third as a member of the Revolution
• Juan Agudelo’s goal in the 10th minute was the fastest goal scored by a Revolution player this year … the previous best was Diego Fagundez’s 23rd-minute goal against Toronto FC on May 25 … at New York on April 20, the Revs were credited with a goal after the Red Bulls’ Brandon Barklage recorded an own goal in the sixth minute
• Chris Tierney recorded his third assist of the season on Juan Agudelo’s 10th-minute goal … it was  his 19th career assist to move him into sole possession of ninth place on the Revs’ career assist chart
• Kelyn Rowe recorded his second goal of the season with his strike in the 20th minute … it was his fifth career goal
• Diego Fagundez recorded his third assist of the season with his helper on Kelyn Rowe’s goal
• Dimitry Imbongo scored his first goal of 2013, and the second goal of his MLS career
• Darrius Barnes’ assist on Dimitry Imbongo’s goal was his first career MLS assist … his first career assist came in his 95th career game
• The Revs’ three goals gave the team its second three-plus goal game in its last three contests
• Camilo’s penalty-kick goal in the 25th minute snapped the Revs’ 420-minute shutout streak that dated back to May 11 … Bobby Shuttleworth had been in goal for the entire shutout streak, which established a new club record