FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (June 24, 2023) – The New England Revolution (10-3-6; 36 pts.) defeated Toronto FC (7-6-10, 19 pts.), 2-1, on Saturday night with 24,596 on hand at Gillette Stadium, vaulting the team into second place in the Eastern Conference after a perfect 3-0-0 homestand. Forwards Bobby Wood and Giacomo Vrioni provided the scoring while goalkeeper Djordje Petrović made a career-high nine saves for New England. The Revolution improved to 7-0-3 at home this season, setting a new mark for the club’s longest streak without a loss at home to begin a season.
Toronto opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Deandre Kerr nodded home a cross past a diving Petrović. New England equalized with a strike from Wood in the 33rd minute, tying Carles Gil for the team lead with his seventh goal of the year. Wood added an assist on the game-winning goal in the second half, feeding a low cross to Giacomo Vrioni for his fourth tally of the season in the 52nd minute, the Albanian’s second game-winning goal of the season. Wood now leads MLS with three goal-and-assist performances on the season.
Carles Gil was credited with an assist on Vrioni’s goal, his ninth of the season – tied for the league lead. The helper was Gil’s 100th goal contribution across all competitions for New England (33 goals, 67 assists), making him the fifth player in club history to reach that mark. His 16 goal contributions on the year are tied for second most in MLS.
Petrović preserved the victory with a stellar performance in goal only two days after returning to the squad from international duty with Serbia. Thanks in part to his performance in net, which included multiple highlight-reel saves in the second half, the Revolution have now claimed nine points from losing position, third most league-wide.
The second-place Revolution hit the road next weekend to take on Supporters’ Shield leaders FC Cincinnati. The 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at TQL Stadium airs on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English and Spanish, and airs locally on the radio at 98.5 The Sports Hub or 1260 AM Nossa Radio in Portuguese.
TEAM NOTES
- The Revolution are now undefeated in the last six MLS matches (3-0-3), moving up to second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
- With Saturday’s result, New England set a new club record for the longest home unbeaten streak to open a season, surpassing the club's previous mark of nine games (2005 and 2015).
- Dating back to last season, New England is unbeaten in 11 consecutive home matches, tied for the third-longest stretch in club history and the longest under Bruce Arena.
- The Revolution are among three MLS teams still unbeaten at home this season (FC Cincinnati & San Jose Earthquakes).
- The Revolution extended its unbeaten run against Toronto FC to five games (3-0-2) dating back to 2021, notching the first win over the Reds in Foxborough since 2018.
- New England leveled the score before halftime and has now scored 10 goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half this season, tied for the league lead with Columbus.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Bobby Wood netted his seventh goal of the season, tied for the team lead this season, along with a second half assist. In eight matches at home this season, Wood has notched five goals and three assists.
- Wood has registered three games this season with a goal and an assist, the most in MLS this season.
- Giacomo Vrioni, who entered the game as a halftime substitute, tallied his fourth goal of the season. It was his second game-winning goal of 2023.
- Carles Gil was credited with a secondary assist on Vrioni’s goal, his ninth of the season. With the helper, Gil becomes the fifth player in Revolution history to record 100 goal contributions across all competitions (33 goals, 67 assists).
- Gil has found the scoresheet in eight of his nine appearances at home this season. Over his last eight games, Gil has five goals and five assists.
- Gil completed six of his seven dribbles and added team highs in duels won (8), shots (4), and chances created (3).
- Matt Polster logged his 100th appearance across all competitions for New England and his 150th career MLS start, recording a team high nine recoveries on the night.
- Ryan Spaulding made his season debut after returning from loan this week, playing 90 minutes and logging a team-high three clearances and winning six of his nine duels.
GAME CAPSULE
New England Revolution 2, Toronto FC 1
June 24, 2023 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell (AR1), Jeremy Smith (AR2)
Fourth Official: Calin Radosav
Video Assiwtant Referee: Kevin Terry Jr.
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Rene Parra
Weather: 76 degrees and partly cloudy
Attendance: 24,596
Scoring Summary:
TOR – Deandre Kerr (Cristián Gutiérrez) 11’
NE – Bobby Wood 7 (Unassisted) 33’
NE – Giacomo Vrioni 4 (Bobby Wood 4, Carles Gil 9) 52’
Misconduct Summary:
None
New England Revolution: Djordje Petrović; Ryan Spaulding, Dave Romney, Andrew Farrell, Brandon Bye; Matt Polster, Emmanuel Boateng, Carles Gil ©, Latif Blessing; Gustavo Bou (Giacomo Vrioni 46’), Bobby Wood (Omar Gonzalez 86’).
Substitutes Not Used: Earl Edwards Jr., Esmir Bajraktarević, Joshua Bolma, Jack Panayotou, Justin Rennicks, Damian Rivera, Ben Sweat.
Toronto FC: Greg Ranjitsingh; Cristián Gutiérrez (Themi Antonoglou 46’), Aimé Mabika, Matt Hedges (Shane O’Neill 46’), Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty; Mark-Anthony Kaye, Brandon Servania; Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Bernardeschi (Sigurd Rosted 46’), Deandre Kerr (Ayo Akinola 58’); C.J. Sapong (Jordan Perruzza 70’)
Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Kosi Thompson, Jordan Perruzza.
Full statistics available HERE.
