Recap: Revs II Down Orlando City B 5-4
Recap: Revs II Down Orlando City B 5-4
Under interim coach Marcelo Santos Revs II hand Orlando City B their first home loss of the 2023 season.
Revolution II traveled to Florida on Wednesday night to take on Orlando City B, their first match under interim head coach Marcelo Santos as Clint Peay takes on a temporary role as an assistant for the first team. Santos has been an assistant with Revolution II for four years and previously coached the Revs’ U-19 and U-17 sides.
New England made three changes to their line-up from their game against NYRB on Sunday, with Tiago Suarez, Jake Rozhansky, and Olger Escobar earning starts.
Rodrigo Schlegel was able to put the hosts on the board first in the 13th minute, finding the back of the net on a well-hit header from the center of New England’s box.
In the 25th minute New England was able to get things back level thanks to Peyton Miller’s third goal of the year, receiving a dime of a pass from Rozhansky at the top of Orlando’s box that allowed him to beat the keeper with a cross box shot into the bottom right corner.
The Revs took the lead in the 35th minute after a deflection in Orlando City’s box resulted in an own goal but things were tied up once again in the 44th minute after Jhon Solís was able to beat Jackson with a well-placed shot to the bottom left corner.
The back and forth continued in first-half stoppage time as Jack Panayotou put the visitors in front once again off the rebound of Jordan Adebayo-Smith’s initial shot in Orlando’s box.
Just two minutes later Orlando found themselves down a man after goal scorer Solís was issued a straight red for a foul against Escobar, adding to one of the most eventful halves of a soccer match in recent memory.
New England kept their foot on the gas to start the second half as Adebayo-Smith extended their lead in the 49th minute, earning his tenth goal of the year after tucking away Joshua Bolma’s chip over the head of Orlando’s keeper.
Bolma tallied his first professional goal in the 53rd minute after drawing a penalty kick, beating the keeper with a shot to the bottom left of the net to extend the Revolution’s lead.
The Revs made their first change of the match in the 58th minute, seeing Ítalo replace Escobar before being made to wait until the 62nd minute for Noble Okello to replace an injured Rozhansky.
Orlando was able to get one back in the 68th minute via substitute Wilfredo Rivera who was able to make an instant impact and beat Jackson with a close-range header into the bottom corner. New England then saw their lead cut to just one in the 74th minute after a Nabilai Kibunguchy goal off of an Orlando City corner kick, his second goal in just as many games.
The visitors made a trio of substitutions beginning in the 75th minute as Ben Awashie, Malcolm Fry, and Patrick Leal checked into the match for Suárez, Miller, and Panayotou respectively. Panayotou was forced to exit the match after an apparent head injury, that hopefully doesn’t end up being anything too serious.
With tonight’s win against Orlando, Revs II improve to 11-5-6 on the season and move back into second place with 43 points as they continue to close the gap with Crown Legacy FC.
New England is back home to take on Atlanta United 2 at home on Sunday, August 13th at 7:00 PM EST. The match will be streamed on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass.