TUCSON, Ariz. – The New England Revolution defeated Seattle Sounders FC 2-1 in their third game of the 2015 Desert Diamond Cup on Wednesday night at the Kino Sports Complex. Charlie Davies scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in second half stoppage time to give the Revs their first win of the competition.
The Revs are now 1-1-1 in the tournament and 2-2-1 so far in the preseason. They will play FC Tucson on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET to close out the preseason.
The Sounders opened the scoring early when midfielder Kenny Cooper finished off a cross from Darwin Jones in the 4th minute. All three goals that the Revs have conceded so far in the Desert Diamond Cup have come in the first 10 minutes of a half and this was the second time that they fell behind 1-0 inside the opening six minutes of a contest.
The score would stay that way into the halftime break though both Daigo Kobayashi and Juan Agudelo were able to create chances for the Revs.
New England made nine changes to begin the second half and two of them combined to produce the Revs' equalizer in the 47th minute. Darrius Barnes played a long pass to Kevin Alston, who made an overlapping run behind the Sounders backline. Alston ran onto the pass and drove a low ball across the top of six-yard box which resulted Seattle's Damion Lowe deflected into his own net for an own goal, tying the score at 1-1.
Just three minutes later the a Revs were nearly in front as Sean Okoli, who was acquired in a trade with Seattle last month, chipped the ball over the Sounders' defense to Steve Neumann, who found himself alone on goal but was unable to put the ball past the sprawling Troy Perkins.
The Revs were reduced to 10 men on the hour mark when midfielder Tyler Rudy was sent off after receiving a straight red card for a foul on Cristian Roldan at midfield. But despite playing the final 30 minutes down a man, the Revs continued to push forward and create chances on the counter attack. The best of those came in the 75th minute when Charlie Davies fed Diego Fagundez a pass just inside the Sounders area. Fagundez froze the Seattle defender with a quick cut-back, but pushed his shot just wide of the goal.
Brad Knighton kept the score knotted at 1-1, with key saves in the final ten minutes of play, including a diving stop on a hard shot from Kenny Cooper and a kick save on a rebound from Andy Rose, after a Cooper's initial shot had ricocheted off the crossbar.
In stoppage time the Revs were awarded a penalty kick when Okoli was denied a scoring opportunity as he attempted to control a cross and turn toward the Seattle goal. Davies converted on the penalty kick, calmly placing the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the goal past goalkeeper Troy Perkins, who dove the opposite way, giving New England a 2-1 lead and the victory.
New England Revolution 2, Seattle Sounders 1
February 25, 2015 – Kino North Grandstand – Kino Sports Complex (Tucson, Arizona)
Scoring Summary:
SEA – Kenny Cooper (Darwin Jones) 4’
SEA – Damion Lowe (Own Goal) 47’
NE – Charlie Davies (Penalty Kick) 90+
Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Darwin Jones (Yellow Card) 42’
NE – Diego Fagundez (Yellow Card) 44’
SEA – Cristian Roldan (Yellow Card) 59’
NE – Tyler Rudy (Red Card) 60’
New England Revolution:
Brad Knighton; Jeremy Hall (Kevin Alston 46', Andrew Farrell (Darrius Barnes 46'), Jose Goncalves (London Woodberry 46'), Chris Tierney (Marco Fenelus 46'); Daigo Kobayashi (Tyler Rudy 46'), Scott Caldwell (Steve Neumann 46'); Teal Bunbury (Sean Okoli 46'), Kelyn Rowe (Timi Mulgrew 46'), Diego Fagundez; Juan Agudelo (Charlie Davies 46')
Substitutes not used: Tomas Gomez
Seattle Sounders FC:
Troy Perkins; Oniel Fisher, Jimmy Ockford (Damion Lowe 46'), Zach Scott, Andres Correa; Kenny Cooper, Andy Rose, Cristian Roldan, Darwin Jones (Aaron Kovar 46'); Chad Barrett, Kevin Parsemain (Dylan Remick 80').
Substitutes not used: Charlie Lyon, Brad Evans, Micheal Azira, Guiliano Frano
