Sunday saw Pablo Moreira and New England Revolution II return to action as they traveled to Historic Crew Stadium to square off against Columbus Crew 2, searching for a crucial three points to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Moreira made three changes from last Friday’s draw and shootout loss to Carolina Core FC. First-teamer Donovan Parisian got the start in goal behind the backline of Gabe Dahlin, Jake Shannon, and first-teamer Tylon Smith. Jared Smith and Damario McIntosh played out wide while Javaun Mussenden, Logan Azar, and first-teamer Cristiano Oliveira played centrally. First-teamer Marcos Zambrano and Makai Wells formed the attacking duo up top.
Parisian came up big in the second minute, diving to scoop up a long curling ball from Chase Adams before it rolled to Zach Lloyd inside the box. The goalkeeper came up big again in the 17th minute, getting his hands to Chase Adams’ shot to keep the game scoreless.
Momentum swung in New England’s favor in the 29th minute thanks to a corner kick opportunity. It began with Oliveira pinging a ball to the center of the box, but it failed to find a target as it bounced off the turf and into a pocket of space. Luckily, Smith was alert, running onto and volleying the bouncing ball that dribbled through a sea of Columbus defenders, past Luke Pruter, and into the back of the net as New England took a 1-0 lead.
Zambrano came close to adding to the lead in the 41st minute when he advanced the ball into a pocket of space and tried to drill it into the upper-right corner, which narrowly missed the target and sailed out of play. Dahlin came close to adding a second on the scoreboard when he drove toward goal and unleashed a long-range shot that forced a diving Luke Pruter to bat the ball out of play.
Three changes came in the 64th minute as Jayden Da, Chris Mbaï-Assem, and Schinieder Mimy replaced Smith, Smith, and Zambrano.
Parisian came up big again in the 71st minute when he saved Brent Adu-Gyamfi's shot from distance to keep the lead and clean sheet intact. The goalkeeper received a yellow card in the 73rd minute for delaying the start during a New England free kick.
Another change came in the 84th minute as Aarin Prajapati replaced Makai Wells.
Just as it looked as if Revolution II would overcome their woes and snap a five-game skid, disaster struck in the 88th minute when Jamil Danjaji leapt into the air to head Nico Rincón’s corner kick into the back of the net to level the match at one apiece.
New England was unable to fight back and secure a spot in the 2026 playoffs as we headed to a penalty shootout to decide who walked away with the extra point.
Shannon was first to step up and delivered with a right-footed shot to the right side of the net. Logan Azar looked to seal the extra point in the bottom of the fifth round and did so with a shot to the right side of the net as New England secured a 5-3 shootout victory.
