It was a quick turnaround for New England Revolution II as Wednesday saw them travel down to Kinetic Field at WSFS Bank Sportsplex Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, to face off against Philadelphia Union II.
New England looked to build off the momentum generated from a valiant 3-2 victory over the weekend that saw Myles Morgan and Shuma Sasaki convert from the spot while Damario McIntosh found the five-hole in the closing minutes to give New England the win.
Wednesday’s affair saw one major absence as head coach Pablo Moreira did not travel with the team to Philadelphia, as the broadcast noted the first-year head coach was obtaining his coaching license. With Moreira out, assistant coach Michael Milazzo took the reins for the evening.
With the first team hosting Nashville SC at Gillette Stadium, Milazzo made six changes from the win over New York and shifted slightly to a 3-4-1-2 formation. JD Gunn returned between the pipes behind the defensive trio of Chris Mbaï-Assem, Jake Shannon, and Gabe Dahlin. Jared Smith and Grant Emerhi played out wide while Allan Oyirwoth and Javaun Mussenden played more centrally. Judah Siqueira played higher up the midfield behind the attacking duo of Jayden Da and Cristiano Oliveira.
Philadelphia’s Sal Olivas became the first player to enter the referee’s book as he received a yellow card just eight minutes into the match following his foul on Mbaï-Assem. Momentum swung New England’s way in the 31st minute as Union II received another yellow card, and it was a costly one as Olivas was sent off after he tackled Siqueira from behind. If the second yellow ejection wasn’t dramatic enough, Olivas’ frustration boiled over as he ripped the red card out of head referee Walterson Torchon’s hand and tossed it away.
Concern arose in the 34th minute as Mbaï-Assem came up limping after going toe-to-toe with Kellan LeBlanc. After a few minutes of on-field treatment, Mbaï-Assem’s night came to an early end as Schinieder Mimy replaced him in the 36th minute.
New England nearly broke the deadlock in the ensuing free kick as Revs II got things started with a square pass into the path of a darting Mussenden, who lasered a shot to the right side of the frame from distance. Pierce Holbrook was alert to the strike as he dove to his left and deflected the ball into a pocket of space.
Emerhi nearly capitalized on the rebounded as he ran onto the ball and lasered a shot to the upper-left corner. Unfortunately for Emerhi and New England, his shot was narrowly off course as it reverberated off the woodwork and cleared away as the half came to an end.
Halftime saw Milazzo make two adjustments as Shuma Sasaki and Damario McIntosh replaced Emerhi and Smith. Milazzo went to the bench again in the 62nd minute as Myles Morgan and Carlos Zambrano replaced Da and Siqueira.
After several close chances, things broke New England’s way in the 86th minute as a series of deflected passes and headers from Morgan and Dahlin led to Shannon striking a bouncing ball mid-air past Holbrook and in to notch his first professional goal while giving Revolution II a late lead on the road.
It took them a bit of time to take full advantage of Olivas’ second yellow ejection, but New England Revolution II were able to secure their first road win of the 2026 season while extending their winning streak to two games.
New England can’t celebrate for long as they play its third game in eight days when the second team returns to Beirne Stadium on Sunday to host Orlando City B at 2:00 PM ET.
