TUCSON, Ariz. – The New England Revolution closed out the 2015 preseason with a 3-0 victory over FC Tucson in their final game of the 2015 Desert Diamond Cup on Saturday night at the Kino Sports Complex. Facing the tournament hosts, Teal Bunbury put the Revs in front midway through the first half before Kelyn Rowe and Sean Okoli finished off the win with a pair of second half strikes.
With the win, the Revs finished the tournament with a 2-1-1 record and pushed their overall record in the preseason to 3-2-1. In those six games, the Revs scored a total of eight goals while conceding just six.
After creating a number of chances early on, the Revolution finally pulled in front in the 30th minute when Bunbury scored his first goal of the preseason. The Revolution winger made a diagonal run behind the FC Tucson backline to collect a through ball from Juan Agudelo before beating goalkeeper Keegan Rogers with a low, right-footed shot to make the score 1-0.
New England controlled the play for majority of the first half with midfield triumvirate Diego Fagundez, Daigo Kobayashi and Scott Caldwell disrupting all attempts by Tucson to maintain possession in the midfield.
For the first time this year, New England’s entire starting lineup remained in the game to begin the second half, and that unit doubled the Revs' lead in the 48th minute. Moments after Bunbury struck the crossbar with a right-footed chip, Kelyn Rowe scored to make the score 2-0. Diego Fagundez played a short corner to the feet of Chris Tierney whose left-footed cross found the head of Rowe, who headed his shot into the net for his first goal of the preseason.
In the final moments of the game, trialist Timi Mulgrew’s pressure on a Tucson goal kick helped force a turnover at the top of the area. A Tucson defender’s misguided touch sent the ball directly to the chest of Sean Okoli, who settled and fired the ball into the back of the net in the 91st minute to put the finishing touches on the Revs 3-0 victory. The goal was Okoli's second of the preseason, tying him with Charlie Davies for the team lead.
Head coach Jay Heaps made eight changes in the second half, choosing to leave Scott Caldwell, Jose Goncalves and Bobby Shuttleworth in the game for the full 90 minutes. Shuttleworth was called upon to make a handful of stops to preserve the Revs first and only shutout of the 2015 preseason.
The Revolution will open their 20th season of play in MLS on Sunday, March 8 when they travel to the Pacific Northwest to face Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field in a game that will be shown nationally on FOX Sports 1 starting at 9:30 p.m. ET. The club will play its home opener two weeks later at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 21 when they host the Montreal Impact at Gillette Stadium.
New England Revolution 3, FC Tucson 0
February 28, 2015 – North Stadium – Kino Sports Complex (Tucson, Arizona)
Scoring Summary:
NE – Teal Bunbury (Juan Agudelo) 30’
NE – Kelyn Rowe (Chris Tierney, Diego Fagundez) 48’
NE – Sean Okoli (Unassisted) 91’
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Jose Goncalves (Yellow Card) 39’
FCT – Vance Rookwood (Yellow Card) 75’
New England Revolution:
Bobby Shuttleworth; Kevin Alston (London Woodberry 68’), Andrew Farrell (Jeremy Hall 82’), Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney (Timi Mulgrew 85’); Daigo Kobayashi (Andy Dorman 61’), Scott Caldwell, Teal Bunbury (Darrius Barnes 77’), Diego Fagundez (Steve Neumann 70’), Kelyn Rowe (Marco Fenelus 88’); Juan Agudelo (Sean Okoli 70’)
Substitutes not used: Tomas Gomez, Trevor Spangenberg
FC Tucson:
Keegan Rogers (Pat Poblete 46’); Edgar Reyna (Andres Acosta 63’), Sebastian Pineda, Mo Miller (Brandon Beresford 37’), Devante Dubose; Dominic Papa, Garrett Losee (Ian Ramos 46’), Derek Boggs, Michael Kafari (Josemaria Mieres 63’), Anthony Grant (Vance Rookwood 63’); Odaine Sinclair (Vincent Mediate 75’)
Substitutes not used: Shadi Harb, Michele Pataia, Clark Phillips, Evan Omani-Chima, Danny Kirkland
