Revs Snap Woes in Win vs. Rapids

By Brian O'Connell
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Updated: September 3, 2016

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s fair to say the Revolution killed two birds with one stone on Saturday.

After a brutal August in which they scored only once and failed to win in five tries during league play, New England snapped a lengthy scoring drought and winless streak in one fell swoop in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids at Gillette Stadium.

Juan Agudelo found paydirt in the 13th minute on a nifty give-and-go with Lee Nguyen before tucking it inside the right post. The goal snapped the Revolution’s scoring drought – which dated back to their Aug. 6 loss at Toronto – at 373 minutes across league play.

While they may have squandered a chance to widen the margin before halftime after Nguyen hit the post on a 33rd minute penalty try – which followed another shot off the post from the run of play in 42nd minute, Chris Tierney made it a two-goal cushion by converting a Diego Fagundez pass deep in the box at the 49th minute mark.

As smooth as the Revolution offense operated on Saturday, the team was also bolstered by a strong performance from Brad Knighton, who made an impressive save on Dillon Powers in the 32nd minute. He followed up with another strong save to deny Powers in the 60th minute en route to his second clean sheet of the season.

New England – which hadn’t claimed three points in MLS play since a Jul. 23 win over Chicago – returned to the win column without the services of Kei Kamara (international duty) and Teal Bunbury (right foot injury). The victory also ended the squad’s winless streak at six (0-5-1).

Former first-round pick Steve Neumann made his first league appearance of the season when he entered the match as an 87th minute substitute. His last taste of league action came in a Sept. 15, 2015 match at Montreal.

On the other side the pitch, U.S. Men’s National Team hero Tim Howard and ex-Revolution designated player Jermaine Jones both missed the match due to World Cup Qualifying. Jones was traded by New England in March following a bitter dispute with the club’s front office over a contract extension.

Saturday’s loss extended the Rapids’ winless streak to four (0-2-2).

New England will set their sights for a second straight win on Saturday, Sept. 10 when they host New York City FC at 8:00pm. The Revolution dropped a 1-0 loss to City in their last meeting back on Jul. 6 in Foxborough.