FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution II (9-9-5; 33 pts.) will host Philadelphia Union II (10-9-4; 37 pts.) for their final match of the 2022 MLS NEXT Pro season on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The match kicks off at 3:00 p.m. ET and streams on MLSNEXTPro.com.
New England played NYCFC II to a 0-0 draw last Saturday at Belson Stadium where Meny Silva and Ryan Lima scored in the penalty kick shootout, but New York City netted its four shots to secure the extra point in the match. Academy goalkeeper Max Weinstein (2004 – Montpelier, V.T.) earned his third professional shutout in his seventh appearance with New England’s second team, making four saves.
“Yeah, so it's our last game of the season,” defender Colby Quiñones said of the team’s mindset this week. "We know we're not in playoffs right now, but we still have one more game that all of us are together as a group for this year, and we're all excited to go out one last time and even though we're missing a few guys, we're all super excited just to play one more game together.”
Revolution II looks to improve upon its 7-3-1 home record in the team’s final match of 2022. New England and Philadelphia have previously played each other twice this season. Most recently, New England fell 5-1 at Subaru Park on August 21. Academy graduate Colby Quiñones scored his first professional goal in the match. New England midfielder Jake Rozhansky and defender Mike DeShields each acquired red cards in the contest, making them unavailable for this week’s meeting per MLS NEXT Pro red card suspension rule. In the first encounter between the two sides, Revs II secured a 1-0 victory at Gillette Stadium where Silva scored the game-winner and first of his professional career in the 34th minute as goalkeeper Jacob Jackson made nine saves to secure the victory.
“Yeah, we started the season well, really well actually, and then we kind of plateaued a little bit and didn't get results that maybe we should have gotten, but looking back on the season, there are a lot of positives that we can take out and going into next season, we're all looking forward to it, and through the negative times that we've had this past season, we can turn it around next season for sure,” Quiñones said.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR AGAINST PHILADELPHIA UNION II:
· New England improving upon their 7-3-1 home record in their final match of the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro season.
· Forward Marcos Dias adding to his team-leading six goals and 58 shots on the season.
· Academy graduates Meny Silva and Colby Quiñones making their 40th and 50th appearances for New England’s second team, respectively.
· Academy goalkeeper Max Weinstein making his eighth consecutive start for Revolution II and improving upon his 1.86 GAA.
· New England adding to the 43 players – and 25 Revolution Academy products – who have made their professional debuts with Revolution II thus far.
