FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution II (6-2-2; 21 pts.) returns home on Saturday, June 11 to take on Orlando City B (2-4-3, 11 pts.) at Gillette Stadium. The match kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET and will stream on MLSNEXTPro.com.
Revolution II is coming off a 2-0 loss vs. Inter Miami CF II, where goalkeeper Jacob Jackson, the MLS NEXT Pro Goalkeeper of the Month for May, made seven saves on nine shots faced. The loss was New England’s second of the year and the first as a professional for Jackson, as his record now stands at 6-1-2 through nine starts.
With MLS on hiatus for the international break, New England saw seven first team players staying fit with Revolution II as Esmir Bajraktarevic, Dylan Borrero, Noel Buck, Jacob Jackson, Ben Reveno, Damian Rivera, and Ryan Spaulding all started for the second team. Borrero led the team with two shots on target. Defender Sean O’Hearn played 77 minutes in the match to surpass 2,500 minutes of action with Revolution II since he joined the team in 2021.
“Well, I’ll shoutout Georgetown here. They really do help prepare you, but obviously, it’s another step up coming from college to the pro level, and I think it’s really helped me, especially here at the Revs,” O’Hearn stated. “They play a style that I really like, keeping the ball, moving the ball side to side. The more minutes you play, the more comfortable you get, and I think I’ve really developed my game just by being more comfortable on the ball when defending and everything like that.”
New England and Orlando have met once so far this season at Osceola Heritage Park on April 24, where the teams played to a scoreless draw in Orlando before the hosts won in a shootout. Revolution II outshot their opponent 20-3 in that match with Jackson stopping the lone shot he faced, kickstarting a run of five straight clean sheets for the goalkeeper. This game also saw forward Triton Beavois become the 21st Revolution Academy player to make his professional debut with New England’s developmental team.
“Orlando is doing a very good job. I think the new coach there, coach Martín [Perelman], is doing a fantastic job, especially defensively. They like to play with a back five, and I think this game will be a different challenge than the game we played over there,” Revolution II Assistant Coach Marcelo Santos said. “They were out of seven guys that were serving youth national teams, so I think they’re going to be a bit stronger, the challenge is going to be even steeper for us. We’ve got to be ready to play our game, but they do very well in staying compact and looking for counterattack opportunities, so we’ve been preparing the team for that, and I expect a very good, tough match.”
Revolution II Season Memberships and single-game tickets are on sale now. For more information, email tix@revolutionsoccer.net or call 1-877-GET-REVS.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR AGAINST ORLANDO CITY B:
- Homegrown midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic making his 20th appearance and surpassing 1,000 minutes played with Revolution II with a 56-minute performance.
- Goalkeeper Jacob Jackson improving on his league-leading 86.5 saves percentage and 0.78 GAA.
- Midfielder Ryan Lima adding to his team-leading 18 shots with five on target so far this season.
- Defender Sean O’Hearn making his 30th professional start with New England’s second team.
- Homegrown midfielder Noel Buck making a 28-minute appearance to reach 2,500 minutes played with Revolution II.
- New England adding to the 38 players – and 21 Revolution Academy products – who have made their professional debuts with Revolution II thus far.
