Revolution II vs Huntsville City FC: Three Thoughts
Three thoughts following Revs II's 1-0 win over Huntsville!
New England Revolution II returned to action on Monday as they welcomed Huntsville City FC to Gillette Stadium. It was a hard-fought, and at times physical game, but Revs II held on to secure a crucial 1-0 win over one of the top teams in the East.
Here are three thoughts.
1 - Mighty Mentality
Monday’s battle was intense as Huntsville tried to get into Revolution II’s head throughout the entire match.
Whether it was trash-talking or some physicality off the ball, Huntsville did everything to try to throw Revs II off track. Despite their efforts, Revs II stood strong and paid a majority of their attention to the game, which led to securing a crucial result against a strong opponent.
The 90 minutes of tension boiled over following the final whistle as an exchange of words led to both sides getting into a shoving match that saw benches clear to de-escalate things.
It was nice to see Revolution II keep their composure when it mattered, but it was also nice to see them handle business and stick up for one another afterwards.
2 - Another Questionable Call
Just as it looked as if Revs II would walk away with a 1-0 victory, that nearly changed in the closing seconds of stoppage time when Eli Ackerman and Damien Barker John collided inside the box.
Looking back on it, I personally think it was a poor call by Velimir Stefanovic. It starts with a poorly cleared header falling to Barker John atop the box. Ackerman is in close pursuit, but Barker John takes a touch on the ball to advance it forward. Ackerman comes through and makes clear shoulder-to-shoulder contact on Barker John, who instinctively plays it up to draw the call.
Ackerman appears to take the brunt of the collision as he goes flying, while Barker John falls forward. If Ackerman were to have made excessive shoulder-to-shoulder contact with Barker John, the physics would have looked different.
Despite the horrid call, Revs II prevailed as Donovan Parisian came up with a massive save to maintain the 1-0 result.
3 - Donovan’s Decisiveness
It takes all 11 players on the field, but Donovan Parisian had an absolutely stellar performance in net on Monday.
The 2025 MLS SuperDraft Pick ended the night with three massive saves that played a part in Revolution II’s 1-0 win over Huntsville.
His first big play came in the 72nd minute when he stretched out to deflect Gunnar Studenthofft’s close-range effort to keep Huntsville off the board.
He came up big again in the 87th minute when he sprang his hands up and deflected Tyshawn Rose’s shot to the upper-left corner and deflected the ball up and over the net.
His biggest impact came in stoppage time when he dove the right way and got his hands to Alan Carleton’s penalty kick to secure New England the 1-0 victory, notch his third clean sheet of the season, and secure some donuts.
Parisian is definitely an exciting prospect to watch. I still think he needs more time to develop, but being in the same building as Brad Knighton and Kevin Hitchcock, plus having experienced keepers like Matt Turner and Alex Bono, will only help Parisian develop into a solid keeper.