USL1 New England Revolution II

Revolution II Defeats Richmond, 3-1

September 17, 2021 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
New England Revolution II News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - New England Revolution II (8-9-4, 28 pts.) defeated the Richmond Kickers (6-8-7, 25 pts.) on Friday night at Gillette Stadium, 3-1, behind goals from three Revolution Academy graduates. Homegrown Players Justin Rennicks and Damian Rivera each scored to help New England erase an early deficit while Academy graduate Noel Buck added a third late for Revs II to seal the three points.

Rennicks scored his second goal of the season in the 33rd minute for New England, nodding home a pass from midfielder Jake Rozhansky to tie the game at 1-1. Rozhansky, playing his first game since Aug. 14, pushed his assists total to a team-high six on the season.

At the start of the second half, fellow Academy alum Damian Rivera put New England ahead, intercepting a free kick on one end before tapping home his sixth tally of the campaign on the other end. Noel Buck finished, a 16-year-old from Arlington, Mass., capped the scoring in second-half stoppage time, slotting home a feed from Rivera to seal the win.

Five first team players started Friday's match for Revolution II, with Justin Rennicks, Damian Rivera, and Collin Verfurth all continuing to see action. Luis Caicedo and Jon Bell also featured as they returned from injuries. In total, seven Revolution Academy graduates featured for Revolution II on the night, with Rennicks, Rivera, and Buck starting while Meny Silva, Colby Quiñones, Hikaru Fujiwara, and Tyler Freitas all came off the bench.

New England will hit the road next Saturday, Sept. 25, to face Chattanooga Red Wolves SC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution II 3, Richmond Kickers 1

September 17, 2021 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

New England Revolution II defeated the Richmond Kickers, 3-1, on Friday in Foxborough, improving their record to 8-9-4 (28 pts.) on the season. It was New England's second victory over Richmond in the all-time series, and first at Gillette Stadium.

New England's home record jumps to 6-4-2 following Friday's win.

Revolution II set a new team record with 26 shots on the night, surpassing the previous mark of 21 set on July 9, 2021.

Forward Justin Rennicks scored his second goal of the season, a first-half equalizer, and added a team-high three shots on target in a 90-minute effort.

Midfielder and Revolution II captain Jake Rozhansky made his first appearance since Aug. 14 after missing four games due to injury. In his return to action, Rozhansky recorded his team-leading sixth assist of the season, a team-high nine recoveries, and four chances created in 90 minutes.

Forward Damian Rivera scored his team-leading sixth goal of the year early in the second half and added his first assist of the season late in the match. The 18-year-old created a career-high seven chances on the night and also won 14 duels.

Midfielder Noel Buck scored his fifth goal of the season as the 16-year-old closed his night with a team-high six shots.

Defender Connor Presley started at right back for the seventh time this season, recording team highs in tackles (3) and interceptions (3).

Academy midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic made his second consecutive start and fifth straight appearance for Revolution II since joining the club in August, finishing with two shots and one key pass.

First team defender Jon Bell and midfielder Luis Caicedo each made their second appearance of the season for Revolution II as the two continue to rehab from injuries.

Bell played his first minutes since Aug. 21 with Revolution II, finishing his 45-minute shift completing 90.2 percent of his passes.

Caicedo suited up for the first time since April 17 and played 90 minutes in a match for the first time since Sept. 29, 2019. He finished with two shots, three chances created, and 11 duels won.

Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay made four changes to the Starting XI from New England's last match on Sept. 11 at North Carolina FC, with Joe Rice, Jon Bell, Luis Caicedo, and Jake Rozhansky all starting in place of Yannik Oettl, Pierre Cayet, Sean O'Hearn, and Michel, respectively.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Kenneth Rojas.

Assistant Referees: Eric Schreiber (AR1), Alexandru Focea (AR2).

Fourth Official: Amilcar Sicaju.

Weather: 67 degrees and mostly cloudy.

Attendance: 125

Scoring Summary:

RIC - Jonathan Bolanos 4 (Zacarías Morán 1) 3'

NE - Justin Rennicks 2 (Jake Rozhansky 6) 33'

NE - Damian Rivera 6 (Unassisted) 47'

NE - Noel Buck (Damian Rivera 1) 90'+1

Misconduct Summary:

RIC - Emiliano Terzaghi (Yellow Card - Handball) 36'

RIC - Jalen Crisler (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 49'

NE - Jake Rozhansky (Yellow Card - Handball) 70'

NE - Joe Rice (Yellow Card - Time Wasting) 74'

NE - Esmir Bajraktarevic (Yellow Card - Time Wasting) 75'

RIC - Oalex Anderson (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 79'

NE - Hernan Gonzalez (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 90'

New England Revolution II: Joe Rice; Ryan Spaulding, Collin Verfurth, Jon Bell (Pierre Cayet 46'), Connor Presley (Colby Quiñones 70'); Luis Caicedo, Jake Rozhansky ©, Noel Buck (Hikaru Fujiwara 90'+3), Esmir Bajraktarevic (Meny Silva 77'); Justin Rennicks, Damian Rivera (Tyler Freitas 90'+3).

Substitutes Not Used: Yannik Oettl; Francois Dulysse.

Richmond Kickers: Akira Fitzgerald; Esteban Calvo (Denso Ulysse 69'), Jalen Crisler, Ivan Magalahaes ©, Chris Cole; Jonathan Bolanos, Zacarías Morán (Mumbi Kwesele 85'), Ethan Bryant (Nathan Aune 79'), Nil Vinyals (Hernan Gonzalez 79'); Emiliano Terzaghi, Matthew Bolduc (Oalex Anderson 69').

Substitutes Not Used: Austin Causey, Juan Pablo Monticelli.

New England Revolution II Team Statistics Richmond Kickers

26 (7) Shots (on Target) 9 (4)

10 Blocked Shots 2

3 Saves 4

5 Corner Kicks 4

2 Offsides 4

14 Fouls 21

445 (85.8%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 283 (75.3%)

60.9% Possession 39.1%

POSTGAME QUOTES:

New England Revolution II 3 vs. Richmond Kickers 1

New England Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay

On Friday's victory over Richmond:

Peay: "Yeah, I thought they brought good energy, tonight from start to finish. I thought they played extremely well and were the aggressor, created a number of good opportunities and we're fortunate enough to get three goals tonight."

On earning their first comeback win:

Coach Peay: "Well there was an air of urgency about us. I think there was also some confidence. We felt good about what we were doing on the field and we knew we were getting chances and so we just had to stay the course and be patient and we figured the chances would come."

On his halftime message:

Coach Peay: "At the end of the day, just keep doing what you're doing but have a little bit more focus and quality in our execution with the final product. I think the goals will come, and they did."

On Jake Rozhansky's performance:

Coach Peay: "He does a terrific job organizing guys, motivating guys, keeping guys honest, and obviously the things that he does for us in possession with the ball was missed."

On Luis Caicedo's return:

Coach Peay: "Well, Luis [Caicedo] is a veteran player so he's intelligent and knows how to play. I thought he brought some physicality to our team that we don't always have and was calm on the ball as well and was really good commanding the midfield defensively for us."

On how this result motivates the team:

Coach Peay: "At the end of the day, it's one game. I think that we just have to kind of regroup and get ourselves going again for another challenge next week."

New England Revolution II Midfielder

On his confidence:

Rivera: "I think my confidence is pretty high right now. The team did well and when the team's doing good, I feel like it builds more confidence just for me and the whole team and we showed that tonight."

On adding a defensive element to his game:

Rivera: "Coach [Clint Peay] told me at half, 'Put a little bit more effort and I showed that and then I got the ball. I think I gave it to Noel [Buck], he gave it back, and I think it was a little lucky but happy to get the goal."

On the difference of tonight's game:

Rivera: "Yeah, I think when we went behind, I think it may be forced us to play a little better play a little bit tougher and the first half we had some opportunities and I think in the second half we took advantage of that. We limited their chances on our goal and I think we executed well in the second half."

On this win:

Rivera: "I think we're a good team. We're a good team to go into a good run in the playoffs and that's our goal to make the playoffs and go as far as you can and we proved tonight that we're a good team and we'll compete."

New England Revolution II Midfielder Jake Rozhansky

On his return tonight:

Rozhansky: "It was amazing. It's really boring and it sucks to be injured. It's really difficult just to sit on the side of training, not be with the boys, especially during a little bit of a tough run for us. As for my fitness, I made it through 90 minutes and I thought I did pretty well. I definitely can get fitter. I was pretty happy with my fitness today."

On his playmaking roll:

Rozhansky: "I was really hungry to play today. Just because I've been out for so long and also this is the team that I played last against when I got hurt. We hadn't beaten this team until today, so I was really hungry. We started off the game poorly, going down 1-0, but I actually think, in the grand scheme of things, that helped us because we kind of realized that we were on the backfoot to start with and we knew we had to pick it up to get the result."

On countering Richmond's physicality:

Rozhansky: "We spoke about it before. I said to the team, 'This is a really physical team and in this league I think some teams try to bully us.' Definitely Richmond is one of them because we're younger and we try to play. I kind of told the team you know we have to match them with intensity with the tackling and everything, and then we can get the ball down and play. I think you saw that from all the guys I mean Tico [Rivera] was making tackles all over the field, he was running his butt off. Meny [Silva], [Justin] Rennicks, even all our attacking players that usually you don't speak about defensively were doing a great job today."

On Friday's win:

Rozhansky: "I think we have a good squad and we're together. We went through a little bit of a rough patch. Just the atmosphere in the locker room and the environment after the game was one that I felt like the team was together and that we can push towards the playoffs."

Check out the New England Revolution II Statistics



United Soccer League One Stories from September 17, 2021


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