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New England Revolution

Revolution Fall to Louisville City FC in Preseason Friendly

February 14, 2019 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


Bradenton, Fla. - The New England Revolution opened the second leg of the club's preseason with a friendly against Louisville City FC at IMG Academy on Thursday afternoon. New England fell, 3-1, to Louisville, with the team's lone goal coming from Homegrown Player Justin Rennicks in the 68th minute.

Louisville City opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, when Speedy Williams finished a cross from Brian Ownby with a header inside of the near post. Louisville would double its lead in the 29th minute, as Niall McCabe beat Cody Cropper with a right-footed shot from close range inside the far post. Midfielder Luis Caicedo gave New England its best scoring chance of the first half, slotting a shot from the penalty area that was tipped away by Louisville goalkeeper Tim Dobrowolski.

On the other side of halftime, Louisville added a third goal from Magnus Rasmussen, who tucked a curled, left-footed shot inside of the far post. Shortly after Revolution Head Coach Brad Friedel made five changes to the lineup, Justin Rennicks pulled one back for New England with his first goal of the preseason - finishing a left-footed cross from Tajon Buchanan with a powerful header.

The Revolution return to action on Saturday, Feb. 16, when the club faces Minnesota United FC in the inaugural Orlando City Invitational. While in Florida, New England will also face Orlando City SC (Feb. 20) and KR Reykjavik (Feb. 23). The match against Reykjavik will take place at IMG Academy in Bradenton, while the MLS contests will be hosted by Orlando City at the Lions' inaugural Orlando City Invitational tournament.

New England Revolution 1, Louisville City FC 3

February 14, 2019 - IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)

Scoring Summary:

LCFC - Speedy Williams (Brian Ownby) 3'

LCFC - Niall McCabe (Unassisted) 29'

LCFC - Magnus Rasmussen (Sunny Jane) 65'

NE - Justin Rennicks (Tajon Buchanan) 68'

Misconduct Summary:

NE - Luis Caicedo (Yellow Card) 47'

NE - Jalil Anibaba (Yellow Card) 50'

NE - Wilfried Zahibo (Yellow Card) 77'

LCFC - Sunny Jane (Yellow Card) 85'

New England Revolution: Cody Cropper, Gabriel Somi (Edgar Castillo 65'), Michael Mancienne © (Jalil Anibaba HT), Trialist, DeJuan Jones (Brandon Bye 65'), Luis Caicedo (Wilfried Zahibo 65'), Isaac Angking (Justin Rennicks 65'), Nicolas Firmino (Scott Caldwell HT), Tajon Buchanan, Diego Fagundez (Teal Bunbury HT), Brian Wright (Juan Agudelo 65')

Louisville City FC: Tim Dobrowolski, Sean Totsch, Paco Craig, Alexis Souahy, Oscar Jimenez, Paolo DelPiccolo, Speedy Williams, Niall McCabe, Brian Ownby, George Davis IV, Luke Spencer

Louisville City FC (65th minute): Ben Lundt, Magnus Rasmussen, Napo Matsoso, Pat McMahon, Taylor Peay, Sunny Jane, Abdou Mbacke Thiam, Lucky Mkonsana, Jose Carranza, Shaun Francis, Geoff Dee

POSTGAME QUOTES

New England Revolution Head Coach Brad Friedel

On his overall thoughts on the match against Louisville:

Coach Friedel: "We've been training really hard. We had a long travel. We came back to Boston and down here, so I expected the players to be tired. The first half wasn't a very good performance from us. We also had guys out there like [Luis] Caicedo who only got 45 minutes in Spain, so that was really his first extended run out. We had Firm [Nicolas Firmino], that was his first 45 minutes of the season. Isaac [Angking] got a few more minutes. DeJuan [Jones] we played at right back because of Andrew Farrell's injury, and we don't want to overplay Brandon [Bye], so it was good to see a lot of the young players get a run out all together. It'll be a learning lesson for them for sure, and a learning lesson for us at a great stage in their development."

On Cody Cropper playing a full 90 minutes:

Coach Friedel: "I wouldn't read anything into it. When we were over in Spain, we split everything 45 [minutes] - 45 [minutes]. Normally, I would like the goalkeepers to play 90 minutes in a game, so the next game will be a different goalkeeper. And then they'll rotate, and when we get to the Orlando and Reykjavik games, we'll see what happens."

On Justin Rennicks' performance:

Coach Friedel: "Preseason games are different. Yes, it's nice to see that, without a doubt. You want to win every game that you play. I expected that when we made a lot of changes it would be fresh bodies, and Louisville made a lot of changes as well. It was a good run out, but it was also good to play against a team that probably treated it more like a league game. That's something that we have to do better at, and match the intensity when other teams are out there to beat you. But it was a very good learning experience for a lot of our young players. More good minutes for Diego [Fagundez], good minutes for Michael Mancienne. John Hackworth has done a really good job with Louisville. It was a good run out."

New England Revolution Forward Justin Rennicks

On scoring his first goal of the preseason:

Rennicks: "It was great. Obviously, I've been looking for one ever since the start of preseason in Spain. To get one now, it just opens up the gates. Get a little rhythm going, and hopefully bag some more."

On his chemistry with Tajon Buchanan:

"Even now in preseason, I think we have a lot of chemistry. So I think in future games, in the actual season or even the rest of preseason, we're just going to keep connecting and keep making goals."

On the adjustment from the Academy to the first team:

Rennicks: "I used to come up every now and then from the Academy to play with the first team, and back then it was much harder. Now, it's definitely much simpler to me. Back then, I was complicating things almost, but now I've been able to get into a rhythm. The physicality, I'm able to hang with these guys now."

New England Revolution Goalkeeper Cody Cropper

On his first 90 minute performance of the preseason:

Cropper: "I think that there's a lot for me personally to take away from that game, to learn from. I think there's a lot for a lot of us to take away from that game. I think the mentality of not only myself, but a lot of the players, will be to live and to learn from this experience. Physically, I feel good."

On his takeaways from today's match:

Cropper: "Just approaching the game with the right mentality. I think in the first half we took a little bit for granted, and you could see a change in pace, a change in mentality from the players that came on in the second half. They really changed the outcome of the game."

On the competition for the starting goalkeeper spot:

Cropper: "I think that there's a clean, healthy competition in goal. Obviously, Brad [Knighton] and Matt [Turner] are both very good goalkeepers, and I'm just taking it day-by-day. I think each and every one of them is as well."

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