New England Revolution II (3-1-2, 12 pts.) fell to Columbus Crew 2 (5-1-0, 15 pts.), 4-0, at Gillette Stadium on Sunday evening. The loss was New England’s first of the season as Revolution II saw its five-game unbeaten streak ended. Goalkeeper Djordje Petrović made four saves in his club debut, while Brazilian forward Marcos Dias made his first professional start after debuting as a sub last week.
Columbus scored four times in the first half, with two goals coming from Noah Fuson in the 17th and 43rd minutes. New England’s defense was resolute in the second half, but the two teams played to a scoreless stalemate in the final 45 minutes as Revolution II logged their first loss of the season.
“In a way, it's going to be good for us to realize that we're not undefeated anymore, and that tough games happen and make us better long term," Defender Pierre Cayet stated postgame. "So that's a game that we got to take away a lot of things that we didn't do correctly to be able to react the next game to be able to fix those mistakes.”
Esmir Bajraktarevic returned to the starting lineup for his fourth appearance of the season after an April stint with the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team. Trevor Zwetsloot started in place of Sean O’Hearn at center back, and Ben Reveno made the start at right back.
“I think the bottom line is every game is a challenge," Head Coach Clint Peay said of the lessons to be learned from this type of game. "You can't go into any game expecting it to be easy, so we have to make sure that we're mentally ready, physically ready, and we have to expect more out of ourselves every day so that our standard doesn't drop in games.”
New England returns to action on Sunday, May 14 as Revolution II hits the road to take on Toronto FC II at BMO Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET on MLSNEXTPro.com.
New England Revolution II 0, Columbus Crew 2 4
May 8, 2022 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
· Goalkeeper Djordje Petrović made his New England debut and made four saves.
· Forward Marcos Dias logged 63 minutes in his first professional start. The Brazilian made his senior pro debut with New England last week as a substitute against Inter Miami CF II.
· Defender Pierre Cayet logged 90 minutes to eclipse the 2,000-minute mark for his Revolution II career.
· Midfielder Ryan Lima logged two shots on goal and leads the team with 14 this season.
· Defender Sean O’Hearn entered the game in the 46th minute to notch his 30th career appearance with New England’s developmental team.
GAME CAPSULE
Referee: Chris Ruska.
Assistant Referees: Alexandru Focea (AR1), Nicole Vesia (AR2).
Fourth Official: Christian Centeno.
Weather: 53 and mostly sunny.
Scoring Summary:
CLB – Marco Micaletto (William Sands) 12’
CLB – Noah Fuson (William Sands) 36'
CLB – Jacen Russell-Rowe (Isaiah Parente) 38’
CLB – Noah Fuson (Mohamed Farsi) 43’
Misconduct Summary:
CLB – Jacen Russell-Rowe Yellow Card (Not Retreating) 17’
NE – Noel Buck Yellow Card (Dissent) 25’
CLB – Noah Fuson Yellow Card (Other Reason) 45’
CLB – Abdirizak Mohamed Yellow Card (Foul) 45’
NE – Michel Yellow Card (Foul) 66’
CLB – Isaac Angking Yellow Card (Foul) 81’
CLB – Coleman Gannon Yellow Card (Not Retreating) 90’
New England Revolution: Djordje Petrovic; Ítalo, Pierre Cayet, Trevor Zwetsloot, Ben Reveno; Jake Rozhansky (Colby Quiñones 73’), Noel Buck (Sean O’Hearn 46’) Michel; Marcos Dias (Meny Silva 63’), Ryan Lima (Hikaru Fujiwara 73’), Esmir Bajraktarevic (Jack Panayotou 46’).
Substitutes Not Used: Mike DeShields, Jacob Jackson.
Columbus Crew 2: Patrick Shulte; Jake Morris, Phillip Quinton (Justin Malou 46’), Abdirizak Mohamed (Jacob Erlandson 46’) William Sands (Daniel Strachan 77’), Marco Micaletto, Isaac Angking, Mohamed Farsi, Isaiah Parente (Sean Zawadzki 46’), Jacen Russell-Rowe, Noah Fuson (Coleman Gannon 46’).
Substitutes Not Used: Stanislav Lapkes, Jacob Erlandson, John Thomas Kamara, Jordan Knight, Quinton Elliot.
