WASHINGTON – After trailing 1-0 at halftime, Dimitry Imbongo and Diego Fagundez scored in the second half to lead the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory against D.C. United at RFK Stadium tonight.

Tonight’s win was the Revs’ first victory both when their opponents scored first and when trailing at the half.

Luis Silva gave United a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute when his long-distance shot snuck past Bobby Shuttleworth, but Imbongo leveled in the 55th minute and Fagundez scored his fourth game-winning goal of the year eight minutes later to lift the Revs’ to their first victory against D.C. since 2011.

Also tonight, Revs defender Kevin Alston – who has missed the last four months of the season while receiving treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a rare but treatable form of leukemia – returned to the field for the first time since March 30. In front of more than 50 family and friends in his hometown, Alston checked into the game in the 84th minute at left back and played the final 10 minutes of action.

After making six changes to the line-up in the last outing, head coach Jay Heaps returned to one of his more regular starting groups tonight, making four changes. Stephen McCarthy slotted back in at center back after sitting out last Saturday’s game with a head laceration. Chris Tierney returned to left back after starting at left midfield last game, while Diego Fagundez came back in to the lineup at the left wing. Lee Nguyen slotted back into central midfielder for Scott Caldwell, while Saer Sene returned to the right win after missing two games with a hip contusion.

Kyle Porter had United’s first chance in the seventh minute when he evaded several Revs defenders and advanced deep into the box, but his shot back across the face of goal was just wide of the far post.

D.C. didn’t waste time after Porter’s effort as Silva took a long through ball from John Thorrington and split the Revs defenders. On the turn, he took 25-yard dipping shot that bounced in front of Shuttleworth and past him for the goal and a 1-0 D.C. lead in the eighth minute.

Revs had their first solid chance of the night in the 36th minute. Imbongo got around D.C. defender Dejan Jakovic and broke deep into the box, where he fed Kelyn Rowe unmarked 10 yards out of goal. The midfielder tried to re-direct the ball past Joe Willis, but the goalkeeper made a diving save to prevent a sure equalizer.

The Revs had a 54.4 to 45.6 percent lead in possession at the break, but United led in shots (9-4). Both teams placed two shots on goal.

As the second half opened – with the Revs making one change (Caldwell on in the defensive midfield spot for Simms) – the Revs continued to press and had a legitimate shout for a penalty in the 51st minute. Nguyen ran into space, picked up an Imbongo square pass and raced toward Willis. Willis appeared to tackle Nguyen without making an attempt on the ball, but referee David Gantar signaled for a goal kick as Nguyen crashed out of bounds.

However the Revs didn’t take long to strike and level after that. Jose Goncalves sent a ball out wide to Tierney hugging the touchline, where he whipped an out-swinging cross into the penalty area. As Nguyen’s near-post run pulled Willis off his line, Imbongo charged in on the back post and re-directed the cross into an open goal to make the score 1-1.

New England scored the go-ahead goal in the 63rd minute and then held on for the win. Imbongo worked across the top of the penalty area and found Sene out wide near the corner of the box. The Frenchman took a couple of steps toward goal and unleashed a curling left-footed shot that beat Willis, but the shot kicked off the left corner of the crossbar. Fagundez was the only player who followed up on either team and easily headed in the rebound past a prone Willis.

Neither team threatened for the next 19 minutes before Silva and Lionard Pajoy – who came on in the 79th minute – connected in the 82nd minute. Pajoy broke through the backline and had a one-on-one opportunity against Shuttleworth, but the goalkeeper made a kick-save to preserve the Revs’ lead late.

Former Revs midfielder Sainey Nyassi had United’s last chance to earn a draw in the 86th minute, but his shot off a one-touch dribble was wide left of goal.

The Revs appeared to close the game with a final 3-1 score line when New England cleared a last-ditch D.C. corner kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Saer Sene picked up the ball at midfield, and with Willis up as n extra body in the box for the corner kick, dribbled close to goal and shot. However Gantar had whistled the game closed when he was at midfield and the final score line read 2-1.

The Revolution returns to action on Sunday, August 4, when they travel host Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, and the match will be broadcast live on TV by Comcast SportsNet and on the radio by 98.5 The Sports Hub.

For up-to-the-minute information on the Revolution, visit the team’s official web site at revolutionsoccer.net, or join the conversation and interact with fans on any of the team’s social platforms: Twitter (@NERevolution, #NERevs), Facebook (NERevolution), Google+ (+NERevolution), Instagram (NERevolution), Pinterest (NERevolution), Vine (NERevolution), YouTube (NERevolutionSoccer) and Flickr (NERevolution).

For more information about 2013 ticketing options, including multi-game plans and individual game tickets, please visit revolutionsoccer.net/tickets.

New England Revolution at D.C. United
July 27, 2013 – RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.)

New England Revolution 2, D.C. United 1

Scoring Summary:
DC – Luis Silva (John Thorrington) 8
NE – Dimitry Imbongo (Chris Tierney) 55
NE – Diego Fagundez (unassisted) 63

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth, Chris Tierney, Jose Goncalves ©, Stephen McCarthy, Andrew Farrell, Diego Fagundez (Chad Barrett 70), Lee Nguyen, Clyde Simms (Scott Caldwell 46), Kelyn Rowe, Saer Sene, Dimitry Imbongo (Kevin Alston 84)

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Reis, Juan Toja, Andy Dorman, Darrius Barnes

STATS: Shots 8, Shots on Target 5, Corner Kicks 0, Saves 2, Fouls 14, Offsides 0, Passes
363 (78.0%), Possession 46.4Z%

D.C. United: Joe Willis, Taylor Kemp, Daniel Woolard, Dejan Jakovic, James Riley, Nick DeLeon, Jared Jeffrey (Lionard Pajoy 79), John Thorrington ©, Kyle Porter (Sainey Nyassi 59), Conor Doyle (Dwayne De Rosario 66), Luis Silva

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Dykstra, , Ethan White, Conor Shanosky, Chris Korb

STATS: Shots 14, Shots on Target 3, Corner Kicks 5, Saves 3, Fouls 14, Offsides 0, Passes 420 (77.9%), Possession 53.6%

* Note that all statistics are unofficial as supplied by Opta

Misconduct Summary:
DC – Jared Jeffrey (caution) 35

Referee: David Gantar
Assistant Referees: Adam Wienckowski (AR1), Greg Barkey (AR2)
Fourth Official: Chris Penso
Weather: Cloudy, 70 degrees
Attendance: 14,122

Team Records
New England Revolution – 8-7-6 (30 pts.)
D.C. United – 2-15-4 (10 pts.)

GAME NOTES

• The win tonight improved the Revolution to 24-28-9 in MLS regular-season action
• The victory tonight also moved the Revs’ road record against D.C. United to 9-18-4
• The win pushed the team’s season record to 8-7-6 on the year, for 30 points
• The win snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) against D.C., which dated back to the start of the 2012 season
• Tonight’s win was the team’s first against United since July 20, 2011 – a 1-0 win at RFK Stadium … that was also the team’s last road win in D.C.
• The win moved the Revs’ record against the Eastern Conference to 6-3-3 this year, including a 4-2-0 mark on the road … the six wins is the Revs’ most against the East since 2007, when the team went 7-6-5 against East teams in a 32-game season
• Tonight’s game marked the 16th game this season – in 21 – that the Revs have allowed one goal or fewer in a game
• Dimitry Imbongo scored his third goal of the year … all three of his goals have come in the last seven matches
• Chris Tierney recorded his fourth assist of the season on Dimitry Imbongo’s goal
• Chris Tierney’s assist was the 20th of his career … his assist tonight moved him into sole possession of eighth place on the Revs’ career assist list
• Chris Tierney’s assist was his fifth career assist against United, coming in 10 matches against D.C.
• Diego Fagundez’s goal was his team-leading seventh of the season
• Diego Fagundez’s goal was the 11th goal of his career
• Luis Silva’s first half goal for D.C. United snapped the Revs’ four-match streak of not allowing a first-half goal … the last match in which the Revs surrendered a first-half goal was at Chivas USA on June 29
• Tonight was the second game in a row in which the Revs have scored a pair of second-half goals to win a game … the also scored two goals in stoppage time at Columbus on July 20 to earn a 2-0 win
• Tonight was the first game in 2013 that the Revs came back to win a game after training at the half … the Revs are now 1-2-1 when trailing at the half, all on the road
• The Revolution are now 7-1-0 when leading at the 75th minute, including a 3-0-0 mark in road games
• Tonight’s win was the team’s first when their opponent scored the first goal … the team entered the game 0-4-1 when the other team notched the first goal, including an 0-2-1 mark on the road
• This was the Revs’ second win in a one-goal game this season … the team is now 2-5-0 in one-goal games … the last time the Revs won a one-goal game was March 9 – 1-0 at Chicago – in the season opener.