Drawn-Out Delay Ends in Draw
It took a whole two days, but Revolution II ended their five-game road trip on a positive note.
Sunday saw Richie Williams and New England Revolution II travel to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, to wrap up their five-game road trip with a meeting against Chicago Fire II.
Max Weinstein got his second consecutive start in net behind the backline of Hesron Barry, Victor Souza, Gabe Dahlin, and Academy prospect Josh Macedo. Cristiano Oliveira, Javaun Mussenden, and Marcos Dias started in the midfield behind the attacking trio of Gevork Diarbian, Michael Tsicoulias, and Judah Siqueira.
Sunday’s meeting saw Marcos Dias reach another milestone in his historical tenure in New England. His inclusion in the starting lineup increased his all-time tally of starts to 69, which ties former defender Pierre Cayet for the most starts in Revs II history.
A great tackle from Barry nearly led Revs II to find the opening goal six minutes into the match. After dispossessing Chicago, Barry sent the ball to Diarbian up the left flank. The winger attempted to slot the ball centrally but couldn’t find a Revs II attacker as Chicago cleared it away.
After numerous early chances, Revs II got onto the scoresheet 15 minutes into the match. After receiving Oliveira’s pass, Diarbian drove up the left flank before cutting it back to Siqueira. The Academy prospect volleyed home a shot past Chicago keeper Patrick Los and into the right side of the net to notch his first professional goal and give Revolution II an early 1-0 lead.
Oliveira came close to finding the back of the net in the 17th minute. It started when Diarbian executed a well-placed pass into the path of an advancing Oliveira. The forward found himself one-on-one with Los and attempted to slot it home, but the goalkeeper came up with the save to keep New England off the board.
The only thing that could stop Revs II early on was the weather. Due to inclement weather in the area, both teams headed to the locker room in the 21st minute. After a three-and-a-half-hour delay, the game was postponed to the next day due to field conditions.
Both sides reconvened inside SeatGeek Stadium on Monday at noon Eastern to restart the match.
Chicago’s scoring spell continued in the 42nd minute when a corner kick bounced perfectly to Jean Diouf yards away from goal. Diouf executed the simple tap-in to slot the ball home and level the match at one apiece.
Macedo was at the right place at the right time in the 59th minute. It started with Dias pushing his way through the midfield and blasting a shot on target. Los got his hands to Dias’ shot but couldn’t maintain a hold of it as he coughed up a rebound inside the box. The Academy prospect outmaneuvered his defender and got onto the ball before drilling it to the upper left corner to net his first goal and give New England a 2-1 lead.
Revolution II looked poised to add to their lead when Tsicoulias drew a foul inside the box to award Revolution II a penalty kick. Dias looked poised to add to his extensive resume of goals in New England, but Los stretched out wide to make the save and prevented Revs II from furthering their lead.
Weinstein came up big at the opposite end in the 72nd minute when he leaped high, got his hands to the curling shot, and pushed the ball wide to maintain New England’s lead.
Chicago found an equalizer in the 78th minute, thanks to an incredible strike from Claudio Cassano. After getting the ball on the left flank, Cassano moved centrally and lasered a shot from yards outside the box to the upper-right corner and in to level the match at two apiece.
After two days and 90 minutes of soccer, neither side found the advantage as things ended in a 2-2 draw. Both sides took home the point as we went to a penalty shootout.
Dahlin stepped to the spot, looking to secure Revs II the shootout victory. The defender was cool, calm, and collected as he drilled a shot to the bottom-left corner to give Revs II the 5-4 shootout victory.
Following the result, Revolution II moved up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points on a 4-3-4 record with four shootout victories. The draw and shootout victory also saw Revs II put a bow on a five-game road trip that saw them secure seven points on the road.
Williams and Revs II will look to build on the momentum generated in the past two matches when they return to Gillette on June 15 to host FC Cincinnati 2.