New England Revolution II looked to build off the momentum generated from their 1-1 draw and shootout victory over Atlanta United 2 when they hosted Toronto FC II inside Bryant’s Beirne Stadium.
Head Coach Pablo Moreira made three changes from the opening day lineup. First teamer JD Gunn got the start in goal behind the backline of Schinieder Mimy, Chris Mbaï-Assem, Jake Shannon, and Damario McIntosh. Javaun Mussenden sat deeper in the midfield behind the quartet of Myles Morgan, Allan Oyirwoth, Judah Siqueira, and Cristiano Oliveira. Jayden Da served as the lone attacker up top.
Despite creating some really good chances, the opening 15 minutes of action saw Toronto step up and block three separate shots from New England to keep the game scoreless.
Toronto’s Bryce Boneau became the first player to enter the referee’s book as he was shown a yellow card in the 33rd minute after fouling Judah Siqueira. Chris Mbaï-Assem received New England’s first caution of the match after he was issued a yellow card in the 54th minute following a foul on Fletcher Bank.
Oliveira came close to breaking the deadlock in the 57th minute as he received a pass from Judah Siqueira, turned toward goal, and unleashed a shot to the upper half of the goal. Unfortunately for Oliveira and Revs II, he put a tad too much on the shot as it reverberated off the crossbar and sailed out of play.
Moreira’s first change came in the 68th minute as Academy prospect Makai Wells replaced Mussenden.
Toronto’s Timothy Fortier entered the book with a yellow card in the 76th minute following an exchange with the referee following Luca Costabile’s foul on Oyirwoth. TFC II’s Edwin Omoregbe saw yellow in the 79th minute following his foul on Siqueira.
Despite good efforts from both sides, neither took advantage in regulation as the game ended in a scoreless draw after 90 minutes. With both sides taking home a point, we headed to a penalty shootout to determine the additional point up for grabs.
Jayden Da stepped to the spot to open the first round, but his woes continued into the shootout as his right-footed shot to the bottom right corner was saved by Zakaria Nakhly. Elias Khodri came up big for Toronto as he sent a right-footed shot down the middle to give TFC II the lead.
With the chance to put the penalty shootout to bed in the eighth round, Gunn came up big as he stretched wide to get his hands to Stefan Kapor’s left-footed shot to the left side of the net.
Thanks to Gunn's two saves, Revolution II walked away with two points following a scoreless draw in regulation and a 7-6 shootout victory.
Revolution II returns to action next Sunday, March 15. when they host FC Cincinnati 2 at Beirne Stadium at 1 PM ET.
