Sunday saw Pablo Moreira and New England Revolution II take the field at Bryant’s Beirne Stadium for the final time this regular season, welcoming Huntsville City to town.
Moreira and Revolution II came into the match looking to get back on track after suffering defeats in their last three outings, seeing the club slip to sixth place in the Eastern Conference. He made three changes from last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to New York City FC II.
Donovan Parisian made his first start in goal since August 9 behind the backline of Aarin Prajapati, Gabe Dahlin, Jake Shannon, and first-team newcomer Tylon Smith, who made his first appearance since joining the Revolution on loan from QPR. Makai Wells, Javaun Mussenden, Logan Azar, and Cristiano Oliveira formed the midfield quartet behind the attacking duo of first-teamer Marcos Zambrano and Myles Morgan.
A poor turnover from Huntsville paid dividends for New England in the sixth minute when Mussenden poked the ball away from Julian Gaines in Huntsville’s defensive half and into the path of Zambrano. The first-team forward got onto the ball and drove to the right side of the box before drilling it past Will Mackay to give New England a 1-0 lead early.
Despite conceding early, Huntsville was not going down without a fight, and it prevailed in the 25th minute. After receiving a pass from Isaiah LeFlore, Nicklaus Sullivan turned toward goal and lobbed a ball into the box, prompting Parisian to dart off his line and race toward the suspended ball. Unfortunately for Parisian and Revs II, Zidane Yáñez beat the keeper to the ball and headed it into the empty goal to level the match at one apiece.
Disaster struck early in the second half for New England as a series of passes led to Huntsville pushing upfield before getting the ball to Jordan Knight. Knight took a few touches before slotting it past Parisian to give the road side the lead early in the second half.
Morgan nearly made club history in the 60th minute when a quick buildup led to the forward running onto the ball and toward goal. After a few touches forward and mulling on whether to keep it for himself or to dish it centrally, Morgan unleashed a shot that narrowly evaded the upper-right corner and sailed out.
New England’s night went from bad to worse in the 66th minute when Charles-Emile Brunet got under a lobbed ball forward and headed it to Yáñez. Yáñez tracked the bouncing ball, put his foot through it, and zipped it past Parisian to notch his second goal of the night and give Huntsville a 3-1 lead on the road.
Morgan nearly cut the deficit in the 69th minute when he got on the end of Oliveira’s corner kick and volleyed it to the bottom-right corner, forcing Mackay to dive and parry it away just in time to prevent Morgan’s 14th goal of the season.
Myles Morgan saw his name etched into the book in the 76th minute following his foul on Thomas Williams.
If it wasn’t sealed already, Huntsville secured three points in the 88th minute when Revolution II committed too many bodies forward, which led to a series of passes upfield that eventually led Moisés Véliz to slot a ball to Charles-Emile Brunet, who put it past Parisian and in to seal Huntsville's 4-1 victory away from home.
It’s been a really tough run of play for New England as of late, as Sunday’s loss sees them slip to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Revolution II will look to get back on track when they travel to Carolina Core FC on Friday.
