USL1 New England Revolution II

Revolution II Falls at Toronto FC II, 1-0

Published on October 8, 2021 under United Soccer League One (USL1)
New England Revolution II News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - New England Revolution II (10-10-4, 34 pts.) fell on the road to Toronto FC II (8-9-8, 32 pts.) on Friday afternoon at BMO Training Ground. Toronto's Kevin Politz tallied the lone goal of the contest with a first-half header.

New England nearly found the equalizer in the 38th minute when Pierre Cayet headed home a cross, but a whistle for a foul negated the goal. Offensively, Justin Rennicks led the way for Revolution II, tallying three shots. On defense, goalkeeper Joe Rice made three saves to keep New England within range.

Five Revolution Academy graduates started the contest for New England - Justin Rennicks, Damian Rivera, Tyler Freitas, Colby Quiñones, and Noel Buck. Fellow Academy alum Hikaru Fujiwara came off the bench for a 28-minute shift. Current Academy midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic earned a start, his fourth of the season.

New England will open a two-game week on Tuesday afternoon, hosting Forward Madison FC at Gillette Stadium in their fourth and final meeting of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

POSTGAME NOTES

New England Revolution II 0, Toronto FC II 1

October 8, 2021 - Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

New England Revolution II fell on Friday afternoon at Toronto FC II, 1-0, shifting their record to 10-10-4 (34 pts.) on the season.

New England's record against MLS second teams moves to 5-1-0 on the season.

New England was shut out for the first time since July 4, ending a stretch of 12 straight matches scoring at least one goal.

Academy midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic collected his fourth start on his eighth appearance for Revolution II since joining the club in August. The Appleton, Wisc. native finished the day with one shot and one key pass in a 90-minute shift.

Forward Justin Rennicks had a team-high three shots with one on target and completed all 14 of his passes on the day.

Midfielder Jake Rozhansky returned to the lineup after missing New England's last match due to injury, completing 43 of his 46 passes and one key pass.

Defender Pierre Cayet recorded team highs in recoveries (12) and interceptions (4) while adding two clearances and five duels won.

Defender Ryan Spaulding had a team-high 10 duels won and five tackles to go along with 10 recoveries.

Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay made four changes to the Starting XI from New England's last match on Oct. 1 vs. Forward Madison FC, with Colby Quiñones, Tyler Freitas, Jake Rozhansky, and Esmir Bajraktarevic all starting in place of Connor Presley, Maciel, Michel, and Edward Kizza, respectively.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Michael Venne.

Assistant Referees: Peter Pendli (AR1); Twayne Anderson (AR2).

Fourth Official: Yusri Rudolf.

Weather: 65 degrees and cloudy.

Scoring Summary:

TOR - Kevin Politz 1 (Luca Petrasso 2) 24'

Misconduct Summary:

TOR - Talen Maples (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 4'

NE - Tyler Freitas (Yellow Card - Dissent) 40'

NE - Noel Buck (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 59'

NE - Joe Rice (Yellow Card - Time Wasting) 86'

NE - Colby Quiñones (Yellow Card - Bad Foul) 89'

New England Revolution II: Joe Rice; Ryan Spaulding, Collin Verfurth ©, Pierre Cayet, Colby Quiñones; Tyler Freitas (Hikaru Fujiwara 62'), Jake Rozhansky © (Sean O'Hearn 62'), Noel Buck; Esmir Bajraktarevic, Damian Rivera, Justin Rennicks.

Substitutes Not Used: Yannik Oettl, François Dulysse, Dennis Ramirez.

Toronto FC II: Andres Vaikla; Luca Petrasso, Talen Maples, Kevin Politz, Rohan Goulbourne, Kobe Franklin; Dante Campbell, Antonio Carlini (Steffen Yeates 85'), Julian Altobelli (Tony Curic 90'+3); Kosi Thompson (Garrett McLaughlin 77'), Paul Rothrock.

Substitutes Not Used: Caleb Patterson-Sewell, Themi Antonoglou, Nicolas Ovalle Raffo, Hugo Mbongue.

Toronto FC II Team Statistics New England Revolution II

6 (4) Shots (on Target) 7 (2)

0 Blocked Shots 0

2 Saves 3

5 Corner Kicks 5

3 Offsides 5

17 Fouls 16

302 (71.2%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 574 (86.4%)

34.0% Possession 66.0%

POSTGAME QUOTES:

New England Revolution II 0 vs. Toronto FC II 1

New England Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay

On Friday's match:

Peay: "They sat back, they hit long balls, and we had to deal with that. Then we had to find a way to break them down and we were not good in the final third. I thought our delivery and our ideas in the final third were not good enough to break them down. I certainly don't feel like they dictated the tempo, they made it hard for us, but I don't think they dictated tempo."

On Toronto's goal:

Peay: "We just made a bad decision on a long ball where we didn't play it well and we ended up conceding a corner kick. We didn't defend well on the corner kick, [Kevin Politz] had a free header inside the box and it's just not acceptable."

On the challenge of breaking down Toronto's defensive lines:

Peay: "They got a lot of numbers behind the ball, they forced play wide, and the goalkeeper [Andres Vaikla] is 6-foot-6 and was pretty good with coming out catching crosses if they weren't delivered properly. As I said before, I thought the service we had into the box wasn't good enough and they sank pretty deep, so there wasn't a ton of space centrally to penetrate in behind them. We had to do a better job with our service, we had to do a better job if we were going to have anything central was combination play or shots from distance, and none of that stuff came off."

On a quick turnaround for Tuesday's match:

Peay: "Of course it's not a long time, so we have to take care of our bodies and eventually kind of move on from this and get ready for the next game."

New England Revolution II Defender Ryan Spaulding

On the difficulties of breaking down Toronto's defense:

Spaulding: "Yeah, I mean the way they play, they kind of sit back on us and force us to break them down. It's a tight field and I think they're able to close the space well. It just makes it a little more difficult for us kind of forcing us to go wide."

On making defensive adjustments to guard against Toronto's attack:

Spaulding: "We saw pretty early on that their goal was just to clip their forwards in behind and kind of pin me and Colby [Quiñones] back. I think adjustments we had to make was just to make sure we had someone following that run, communication, and just staying in our lines."

On the battles down the sidelines and what he feels the team could have done better:

Spaulding: "Yeah, as I said they get a lot of numbers around the ball and they like to get back and defend deep. So, I think the key is being able to get the ball moving from side to side and catching them as they're shifting over instead of being already set on one side."

On what the emphasis will be for the team ahead of Tuesday's match:

Spaulding: "Every game is a learning experience. We've just got to take the negatives from this game, work on it, process it, and just be ready to go against Forward Madison [on Tuesday] which is another big game for us."

Check out the New England Revolution II Statistics

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