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USL1 New England Revolution II

Revolution II Falls to Richmond Kickers, 2-1

August 21, 2020 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
New England Revolution II News Release


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - New England Revolution II (0-2-2, 2 pts.) fell to the Richmond Kickers on Friday night at Gillette Stadium, 2-1. Forward Mayele Malango scored his first professional goal for New England, an equalizer in the 71st minute.

Kickers midfielder Ryley Kraft scored the winning goal in the 81st minute, scoring off a Jonathan Bolanos cross. Richmond took the lead early in the second half on Emiliano Terzaghi's fourth goal of the season.

New England saw a pair of Academy players crack the starting lineup in defender Colby Quinones, making his second start, and midfielder Hikaru Fujiwara, earning his first start and second professional appearance. Academy midfielder Kaoru Fujiwara made his third appearance of the season as a second-half substitute.

Revolution II goalkeeper Keegan Meyer made his professional debut, starting in goal for New England. The goalkeeper was selected 43rd overall by the Revolution in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft.

New England will play a pair of contests this week, starting with a Wednesday night contest at home against Greenville Triumph at 7 p.m. ET followed by a trip to face Chattanooga Red Wolves SC on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. Both matches will stream live on ESPN+ in the United States and YouTube internationally.

New England Revolution II 1, Richmond Kickers 2

August 21, 2020 - Gillette (Foxborough, Mass.)

Malango off the Mark for the 2020 Season

- Forward Mayele Malango scored his first professional goal on Friday night with an assist from defender Ryan Spaulding.

- The Salem, Mass. native entered the game in the 61st minute and finished with the night with 20 touches, completing five of his eight passes.

Quartet of First-Team Players See Action

- First team players Collin Verfurth, Nicolas Firmino, Isaac Angking, and Damian Rivera all started Friday's contest for New England.

- Verfurth put in another 90-minute shift, donning the captain's armband and leading the defense with four clearances and seven interceptions while completing a game-high 65 of 74 passes.

- Firmino completed 89.1% of his passes on the night while attempting two shots, and completed a game-high 36 passes in the opposing half.

Pair of Academy Players Earn Starting Nods

Bedford, N.H. product Colby Quinones earned the start at right back for the second consecutive week and was joined by Revolution U-19 teammate and midfielder Hikaru Fujiwara (Lexington, Mass.) making his second appearance of the season.

Quinones, who is a member of the Revolution Academy's residency program, led New England with two blocked shots and recorded a shot on target.

Keegan Meyer Makes Revolution II Debut in Goal

- Goalkeeper Keegan Meyer made his professional debut on Friday night, starting for the first time and making three saves.

- Meyer was selected 43rd overall in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft after a spectacular collegiate career at High Point University where he was a four-year starter.

GAME CAPSULE

Referee: Hao Zhong

Assistant Referees: Tom Felice (AR1), Sean Lyons (AR2)

Fourth Official: Jeremy Scheer

Weather: 80 degrees and partly cloudy

Scoring Summary:

RIC - Emiliano Terzaghi 53'

NE - Mayele Malango (Ryan Spaulding) 71'

RIC - Ryley Kraft (Jonathan Bolanos) 82'

Misconduct Summary:

RIC - Gianluca Cuomo (Yellow Card- Unsporting Behavior) 69'

NE - Tiago Mendonca (Yellow Card- Unsporting Behavior) 78'

New England Revolution II: Keegan Meyer; Colby Quinones, Collin Verfurth ©, Jon Bell, Ryan Spaulding; Maciel, Nicolas Firmino, Hikaru Fujiwara (Tiago Mendonca 61'); Damian Rivera (Mayele Malango 61'), Orlando Sinclair (Connor Presley 77'), Isaac Angking (Kaoru Fujiwara 77').

Substitutes Not Used: Joe Rice, Nathan Metsack, Ryo Shimazaki.

Richmond Kickers: Akira Fitzgerald; Scott Thomsen, Kyle Venter ©, Ivan Magalhaes, Ian Antley; Ryley Kraft, Victor Falck, Matthew Bolduc, Emiliano Terzaghi (Wahab Ackwei 90'+1), Mutaya Mwape (Jonathan Bolanos 66'); Luke Pavone (Gianluca Cuomo 66').

Substitutes Not Used: Lee Johnston; Hassan Pinto, Charles Boateng, Gregory Boehme.

New England Revolution II Team Statistics Richmond Kickers

11 (4) Shots (on Target) 18 (5)

3 Saves 4

3 Corner Kicks 5

1 Offsides 3

13 Fouls 8

494 (84.0%) Passes Attempted (% Completed) 356 (76.4%)

57.3% Possession 42.7%

POSTGAME QUOTES: New England Revolution II 1 vs. Richmond Kickers 2

Revolution II Assistant Coach Marcelo Santos

On Richmond's defensive ability

Santos: "They're an experienced team. They play really compact and physical, they know what they want to do and they stick to that. They defend really compact and play really close together so it makes it difficult for us to get the ball to [Isaac Angking and Damian Rivera]."

On Mayele Malango's impact on the attack

Santos: "The idea to bring Mayele [Malango] and then [Kaoru] Fujiwara later was to try to create width higher up the field. Of course Mayele is a physical player and he has the ability to take the game 1-on-1 and I think that's what he tried to do. He competes better and at times looked dangerous and provided a spark for us that we were needing."

On keeping right mindset for a young group

Santos: "That's one thing they have to learn. We're going to keep pushing the message and try to correct their mistakes. I think we have to learn on the fly, especially when you play a team like [Richmond]. They're a more experienced team and they were ready to compete and at some points we felt like we want to play but we don't want to do the hard work. But that's part of the learning and I'm sure we're going to get it right at some point.

On the upcoming two-game week

Santos: "I think we have a big group. In times like this, it's important to stay 100 percent or to rotate the lineup and try different things to make sure that we are still ready to compete because at this level that's what we need - we need to be ready to compete physically and be up for any challenge the other team brings to us."

Revolution II Forward Mayele Malango

On what he saw on his scoring play

Malango: "On the corner kick, it came out to Ryan [Spaulding] and I overlapped him, he passed to me, and I just tried to get the shot off. It happened really quickly, I got the pass from Ryan, I overlapped him, he gave me the ball and I took the shot. After I scored I felt happy and excited because it's always been a dream for me to score my first professional goal ever so I'm really happy and excited to score my first goal."

On the offense finally finding a rhythm

Malango: "We just have to keep learning every single day. Last game I was playing as a striker and that's not where I usually play but as the coaches say in the locker room we have to keep learning new roles on the team. So I feel like it's important that we all adjust and work together as a team to help each other out and we'll go from there."

On staying confident heading into a busy stretch

Malango: "In sports, we all have those days that won't go our way. We're going to have to be resilient but we're a young group of guys here. We all help each other, that's the most important thing. We just keep talking with each other, helping each other, and that's what we have to do. We have some good guys who are older and can give us advice and stuff. It's good and that's helpful individually and as a group."

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