The Revs ended a 540-minute scoreless streak.
New England coach Jay Heaps, right, looks at Seattle coach Sigi Schmid April 13 in Seattle. FOXBOROUGH - After experiencing a drought of epic proportions, the New England Revolution notched a veritable plethora of goals en route to a 2-0 victory Saturday night over the Philadelphia Union.
“I thought we played a good, complete game from front to back,” coach Jay Heaps said. “Overall, our front-to-back movement was pretty good.”
The Revs (2-3-2) ended a 540-minute scoreless streak (their score in last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to New York was ruled an own goal) in the 61st minute.
Lee Nguyen carried the ball down the middle and passed to Kelyn Rowe on the right wing. Rowe centered the ball for Diego Fagundez ,who lined a shot by Zac MacMath.
Instead of retreating into a defensive shell, the Revs continued to press the attack, and it resulted in goal by Nguyen in the 71st minute.
Nguyen passed to Saer Sene, whose shot was blocked by MacMath. But Nguyen tapped in the rebound for a 2-0 lead over Philadelphia (3-3-2).
Without question the Revs had more quality scoring opportunities in the first half than they had in all of their previous six games combined, but the first half still ended in a scoreless draw.
New England’s best chances came in the first 15 minutes.
Nguyen carried the ball deep into the right end and crossed it to Rowe who should have scored on a deflection. Instead, Rowe deflected that ball just outside the left post.
“I had a lot of confidence in Kelyn and Lee,” Heaps said. “They have a nice style. We felt the goals were going to come and, fortunately, they came tonight.”
Overall, the Revs unleashed 19 shots at goal as compared with 11 for Philadelphia.