NEW YORK – The New England Revolution dropped their second consecutive game to open the 2015 MLS season, suffering a 2-0 loss to New York City FC on Sunday evening at Yankee Stadium. NYC FC, playing their inaugural home game, got goals on either side of halftime from David Villa and Patrick Mullins to claim their first win in MLS. With the defeat, the Revs are now 0-2-0 heading into next weekend’s home opener against the Montreal Impact.

David Villa gave NYC FC the lead in the 19th minute when he scored the first-ever goal in the history of MLS at Yankee Stadium. Just minutes after forcing Bobby Shuttleworth into a fingertip save, Villa played a one-two at the top of the box with Ned Grabavoy before bursting into the area and slotting a shot past Shuttleworth, giving the home side a 1-0 lead.

They would take that lead into the halftime break despite New England outshooting NYC FC 9-5 in the opening 45 minutes. Juan Agudelo, Kelyn Rowe and Chris Tierney all had chances to score the Revs first goal of the season, only to be denied by goalkeeper Josh Saunders and the New York City defense.

The Revs search for an equalizer became all the more difficult in the 66th minute when captain Jose Goncalves was sent off for pulling down NYC’s Khiry Shelton as he burst through on goal, forcing New England to play the final 24 minutes with just 10 men.

NYC FC put the game out of reach in the 84th minute when former New England forward Patrick Mullins scored less than a minute after entering the game. Villa got free on the left and hit a low ball across the face of goal for Mullins, who slid in at the back post to double the expansion club’s lead and seal their first-ever victory.

Full match highlights and statistics can be found here.

Revolution Santander Man of the Match

BOBBY SHUTTLEWORTH– Tallied seven saves on the night to help keep New England in the game. He was called upon to make two saves in the first half and then added five more in the final 45 minutes. The seven saves are tied for the second-most in a game in his MLS career.

Next Game
The Revolution will be back on the road next weekend when they host the Montreal Impact in their home opener at Gillette Stadium. That game, which is scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. ET, will be shown locally on Comcast SportsNet and simulcast on 98.5 The Sports Hub with Brad Feldman, Paul Mariner and Jessie Coffield. WMVX 1570 AM Nossa Radio USA will carry the game locally on the radio in Portuguese.

New England Revolution at New York City FC
March 15, 2015 – Yankee Stadium (New York, N.Y.)
New England Revolution 0, New York City FC 2

Scoring Summary:
NYC – David Villa 1 (Ned Grabavoy 1) 19’
NYC – Patrick Mullins 1 (David Villa 1) 84’

Misconduct Summary:
NYC – Chris Wingert (Yellow Card) 6’
NE – Juan Agudelo (Yellow Card) 9’
NYC – Josh Williams (Yellow Card) 57’
NE – Jose Goncalves (Red Card) 66’
NE – Andy Dorman (Yellow Card) 73’

New England Revolution: Bobby Shuttleworth; Kevin Alston (Darrius Barnes 59’), Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves © (Sent Off 66’), Chris Tierney; Andy Dorman, Daigo Kobayashi; Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen (Scott Caldwell 71’), Diego Fagundez; Juan Agudelo (Charlie Davies 65’).

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton, Jeremy Hall, Steve Neumann, Sean Okoli

STATS: Shots 11, Shots on target 1, Saves 7, Corner kicks 4, Offsides 2, Fouls 10, Possession 47.9%, Passes 401 (73.6%)

New York City FC: Josh Saunders; Josh Williams (Shay Facey 79’), Jason Hernandez, Chris Wingert, Jeb Brovsky; Andrew Jacobson, Sebastian Velasquez (Khiry Shelton 66’), Ned Grabavoy, Mix Diskerud; David Villa ©, Adam Nemec (Patrick Mullins 84’).

Substitutes Not Used: Akira Fitzgerald, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Javier Calle, Kwadwo Poku

STATS: Shots 20, Shots on target 9, Saves 1, Corner kicks 5, Offsides 4, Fouls 17, Possession 52.1%, Passes 455 (76.3%)

Referee: Mark Geiger
Assistant Referees: Greg Barket and Matthew Nelson
Fourth Official: Jorge Gonzalez

Weather: Cloudy and 40 degrees
Attendance: 43,507

Team Records:

New England Revolution: 0-2-0, 0 pts.
New York City FC: 1-0-1, 4 pts.

Additional Game Notes

• With the loss, the Revolution are now 0-2-0 on the season. They are one of three teams in the Eastern Conference without a point through the first two weeks of the MLS season.
• This is the second consecutive season in which the Revs have opened the season with consecutive losses.
• The Revs have also failed to score a goal in either of their first two games for the second straight season as well and the third time in the last four years.
• New England is now 11-12-6 all-time against expansion teams in MLS.
•  Sunday’s game was the first of three this season between the Revs and NYC FC. New England will host New York City at Gillette Stadium on July 18 and New England will return to Yankee Stadium for the regular-season finale on October 25.
• This was New England’s first-ever MLS regular-season game in the state of New York.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the squad that lost 3-0 to Seattle last weekend in the season opener with Daigo Kobayashi starting in place of Scott Caldwell in central midfield and Lee Nguyen returning from injury to take the place of Teal Bunbury, who missed out with a right shoulder sprain.
• In addition to Bunbury, the Revs were without Jermaine Jones (Left Sports Hernia Surgery) and Donnie Smith (Left Groin Surgery) who missed their second straight games because of injury.
• The Revs were reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute when Jose Goncalves was shown a red card for pulling down Khiry Shelton after he had gotten in behind the New England defense. This was the first red card of Goncalves’ MLS career.
• The Revolution captain will now be suspended for next weekend’s home opener against Montreal.
•  Goncalves is the first New England player to be sent off since July 16, 2014 when A.J. Soares was shown a red card in a 5-1 loss to the LA Galaxy.
• This was the second straight game to open the season that the Revs finished with 10 men, though last weekend it was not suspension related. Teal Bunbury was injured late in the season opening defeat to Seattle, but was unable to be replaced as the Revs had already used all three of their substitutes.
• Juan Agudelo and Andy Dorman were each shown yellow cards for the Revs.
• Darrius Barnes made his season debut in the 59th minute, coming on for Kevin Alston, who suffered a right hamstring injury.
• Playing on his 24th birthday, Scott Caldwell entered the game in the 71st minute, replacing Lee Nguyen, who was playing his first game of the season after missing the season opener with a groin injury.
• Bobby Shuttleworth finished the game with seven saves in goal for the Revolution. The seven saves equal his most in a game since May 2013 when he had a career-high nine saves in a 0-0 draw with Portland.
• The Revs outshot NYC FC 9-5 in the opening 45 minutes but were out shot on the game 20-11. NYC FC held a 15-2 shot advantage in the second half.
• Juan Agudelo led the Revs with three shots and had their only shot on goal,
• Patrick Mullins, who played for the Revs in 2014 before being taken by NYC FC in the Expansion Draft, scored his team’s second goal. As a result, three of the five goals scored against the Revs this season have been scored by former Revolution players.