Offensive Onslaught
- Updated: September 5, 2015
Photo credit: Jeff Bernstein
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Diego Fagundez scored just before halftime, Juan Agudelo and Chris Tierney added one each inside the last 10 minutes, Lee Nguyen had an assist on each tally and the Revolution collected its third straight shutout with a dominate 3-0 win over Orlando City SC.
“I thought we prepared really well this week,” Revolution head coach Jay Heaps said. “Both teams were missing a player that was key and we weren’t exactly sure what they were going to do in terms of the personnel but we felt if we could get them pinned, we could really make it hard for them to get out. And I thought that’s what we did really well. We put them under pressure and every time the ball turned over we tried to win the ball back immediately to keep them under pressure.”
Fagundez put the home side up in the 43rd minute, finishing off a sequence started by left back Chris Tierney. Agudelo added the insurance goal in the 84th minute with an easy tap in off a sequence started by Lee Nguyen and Tierney added one final goal just before the whistle on a series started by sub Steve Neumann.
The Revolution launched 21 shots in the game and pelted Orlando City goalie Tally Hall with eight shots on frame.
New England nearly broke through twice in the 18th minute but a brilliant save from Hall and the crossbar prevented the Revolution from finding the back of the net. First, it was Hall that stopped a point blank header from Charlie Davies off of a Kelyn Rowe cross. On the rebound, Fagundez ripped a volley from close range but it clanked off the corner of the crossbar and the post and stayed out.
Just five minutes later, Orlando nearly fell victim to an own goal but Hall was quick to react. A low cross from Tierney went past Fagundez at the near post and hit off Orlando defender David Mateos but Hall got to the ground to prevent it from crossing the line.
Chances came from Tierney (26th minute), Nguyen (29th minute) and Rowe (35th) minute, but none were able to test Hall with a shot on target.
However, Tierney’s long ball over the top of the defense in the 43rd minute was what finally got the Revs on the board. Tierney’s long ball was chested down by Davies right to the feet of Nguyen on the flank. Nguyen one-timed a chip into the area and a streaking Fagundez took the ball down with his right foot before firing a left footed shot that beat Hall at the far post.
Fagundez nearly doubled the lead just two minutes later with a low hard shot but Hall got down to his right to stop it.
New England continued to dominate in the second half and nearly went up 2-0 behind a shot from Tierney. Rowe’s switched fields with a cross to Fagundez who attempted to connect with Nguyen in the area. A deflection off a defender put the ball right at the feet of Tierney and he blasted a shot that deflected off Orlando’s Servando Carrasco sending Hall the wrong way, but the ball hit off Hall’s feet and went wide.
Orlando’s best chance of the second half came in the 72nd minute on a counter attack. Substitute Bryan Rochez was able to dance around enough to create from space for a shot from the top of the area, but his bid sailed well high.
Roughly 15 minutes after Agudelo replaced Davies, he was able to tap home the insurance goal. The sequence started with passes between Nguyen and Fagundez at the top of the area before Nguyen found Bunbury wide open with a through ball. Bunbury lifted his head up and played a perfectly weighted ball across the face of goal that found a wide open Agudelo for an easy tap in.
With just seconds left in the game, substitute Steve Neumann hit a long searching ball up the field to Fagundez. The Homegrown Player found Nguyen in the area, and Nguyen found Tierney with a simple back heel, which the Wellesley, Mass. native did well to slot home to make it 3-0.
New England was credited with 54.1 percent of the possession, but dominated the tempo and style of play from start to finish. The game was played on grass at Gillette Stadium and it seemed to play a big factor in New England’s ability to move the ball successfully, completing over 88 percent of their passes.
“I thought it was great for us,” Tierney said of the grass surface. “Credit to the staff that put it down. The field played great, it really did. It helped us keep and pass the ball and I thought you could see with our possession with the game, we were always going to find a way to score a goal. We just had full control of the game. The grass definitely helped us out with that passing style we played tonight.”
The Revolution return to action with a trip to Toronto FC on September 13th.
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