Sports stats



MLS New England Revolution

Revs face Fire in Eastern Conference Championship

November 3, 2005 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New England Revolution News Release


The New England Revolution extended the best season in club history this past Saturday night, advancing to the MLS Eastern Conference Championship after defeating the MetroStars 3-1 at Gillette Stadium. Down 2-0 on aggregate, the Revs overturned a 2-0 deficit with goals by José Cancela, Pat Noonan and Khano Smith to give the Revs a 3-2 aggregate series win.

The Revolution will host the Eastern Conference Championship game against the Chicago Fire at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 6 at Gillette Stadium. The game will be broadcast live nationally on ESPN2 and can be heard on WEEI 850 AM, as well as streaming live on www.revolutionsoccer.net. For ticket information for the Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium, call 1-877-GET-REVS.

The Conference Championship is a single-game format, with the winner earning a place in MLS Cup 2005 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas on November 13.

Series So Far

The New England Revolution has met the Chicago Fire 24 times in the regular season, including 12 home games. The Revs own a 11-8-5 overall record against the Fire, including an 8-3-1 record at home. This season the Revs recorded three wins against the Fire and one road loss. On Wednesday, April 27 at Soldier Field, New England defeated Chicago 3-0, on goals by Clint Dempsey, Pat Noonan, and Taylor Twellman. On May 7, the Fire traveled to Foxborough and the Revs won 2-0 with Dempsey and Noonan scoring. On July 9, the Fire claimed a 1-0 win at Soldier Field on a Gonzalo Segares goal in the 58th minute. In the regular-season finale, the Revs defeated the Fire 1-0 with Twellman's 17th goal of the season. Also, that goal sealed Twellman's Budweiser MLS Golden Boot award. In the postseason, the Revs are 3-4-0 against the Fire, including a 1-2-0 series in 2000, a 2-1-0 series in 2002 and an overtime loss in 2003. At home in the postseason against Chicago, New England is 3-0-0.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

With a 2-2 draw at Kansas City on October 8, New England clinched home field advantage throughout the 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs; historically the Revs' have been much more successful in the postseason at home than on the road. The Revs' home postseason record is 5-1-3 (a winning percentage of 72.2 percent), while on the road the team's record is 2-8-1 (22.7 percentage). The Revs' have scored 14 goals at home during the postseason, allowing only 6. Only one other team has a better postseason goals allowed record in MLS history: the Miami Fusion only allowed two goals in six games at home in the postseason. On the road, however, the Revs have scored only 10 goals and given up 21 goals.

Fortress Foxborough

In the 16 regular-season games at Gillette Stadium this year, the Revolution allowed only 13 goals against in their home stadium. The Revs began the season by posting shutouts against the Columbus Crew (3-0), Chivas USA (1-0), the Chicago Fire (2-0), D.C. United (1-0) and the Colorado Rapids (0-0) before the streak ended when they played to a 1-1 draw with Kansas City on June 4. On June 25 against the MetroStars, the Revolution gave up two goals - one penalty kick and one in the run of play. On July 16 against FC Dallas, New England gave up two goals followed by one goal against Los Angeles on July 27 before the All-Star break. After the All-Star game, the Revs allowed two goals against Kansas City (8/6) and one goal against Real Salt Lake (8/10). On August 27 against United, the Revs gave up a goal in the 36th minute, but won the game off of a 94+' Taylor Twellman goal. On September 10 against the Crew, the Revs game up one goal in the 86th minute. On Saturday, September 24 against the MetroStars, the Revolution posted their sixth home shutout of the season (1-0). On October 1, the Revs allowed two goals against the San Jose Earthquakes, but New England finished the season out with a 1-0 shout against the Chicago Fire on Saturday, October 15 at Gillette Stadium. The goal by Kansas City on June 4 marked the latest into any season the Revs let in their first goal against at home. In eight of their previous nine seasons, the Revolution allowed at least one goal in their home opener. The Revolution shut out the Dallas Burn 2-0 in the first-ever Revs match at Gillette Stadium (then CMGi Field) on May 11, 2002, but then surrendered three goals in their second home match of the season, a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Fire on May 19, 2002.

Postseason Power

Of the eight MLS head coaches who coached teams in the 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs, Revolution head coach Steve Nicol leads the group with six postseason wins; Nicol's postseason record with the Revs is 6-5-4. Next in line is D.C. United's Peter Nowak who has recorded four postseason wins (4-1-1) and Chicago's Dave Sarachan, with a record of 4-1-1, who recorded his fourth postseason win this past Sunday. Los Angeles' Steve Sampson has recorded two postseason wins (2-2-1), including Game One of the Western Conference Semifinal on Sunday, October 23, a 3-1 victory over this year's Supporters' Shield winner, the San Jose Earthquakes. Colorado's Fernando Clavijo has recorded a 2-2-1 record in the postseason, including a penalty kick victory over FC Dallas this past Saturday. The MetroStars' Mo Johnston's only postseason games came in this year's Eastern Conference Semifinal, during which he recorded a 1-1-0 record. San Jose's Dominic Kinnear has earned only one postseason win as a head coach and holds a 1-2-1 record. Lastly, FC Dallas' Colin Clarke has only coached two postseason games, a draw against the Rapids two weekends ago and a penalty kick last Saturday, for a 0-1-1 record. The coach who currently holds MLS' all-time record for wins in the postseason is Sigi Schmid (16 wins), who was just recently hired by Columbus to coach the Crew for 2006.

Local Hero Earns More Accolades

On Tuesday, November 1, Major League Soccer named Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst the Gatorade Rookie of the Year. Parkhurst was one of only five players - including the only rookie - to start and play in every minute of every game during the 2005 regular season (32 starts, 2880 minutes). The Providence, Rhode Island native, who grew up in Cranston, R.I. as a fan of the Revolution, gives the Revs back-to-back Gatorade Rookie of the Year winners after Clint Dempsey captured the award in 2004. Parkhurst, 21, who was also selected to the 2005 MLS All-Star team, is the fourth player on the current Revolution roster to have won the award (Steve Ralston - 1996; Jay Heaps - 1999; Dempsey - 2004). Also, Revolution forward Pat Noonan was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 2003.

Dempsey Strike in the Top Five

MLS announced on Tuesday, November 1 that Revolution midfielder Clint Dempsey's game-winning strike against the Chicago Fire on April 27 at Soldier Field has been voted in the top five of Sierra Mist Goal of the Year. The original ballot of 40 top goals was reduced to ten in the first round of voting, and then to the top five through voting which ended this morning. From Tuesday, November 1 until Monday, November 7, fans can vote for the 2005 Sierra Mist Goal of the Year from the following five finalists: Dempsey (NER at CHI, 5/27), Quick flick up past defender and one time volley; Carlos Ruiz (DAL at DCU, 5/28), Bicycle kick home from the near the penalty spot; Jason Kreis (RSL vs. KCW, 8/13), Volley into the upper corner from over 20 yards out for his 100th career goal; Freddy Adu (DCU at RSL, 10/5), Quick-flick over oncoming defender near midfield and race past defenders before shooting low to the inside of the far post; Dwayne De Rosario (SJE at LAG, 10/15), Powerful freekick from 25 yards out that bent around the right side of the wall and hooked into the upper corner.

Heaps is Fan-tastic

Revolution defender Jay Heaps is the MLS Defender of the Year -- according to MLSnet.com's MLS Fantasy Challenge, a season-long online game for fans. Says the league website: "Heaps gets the nod here ahead of San Jose Earthquakes defender Kelly Gray and D.C. United defensive midfielder Brian Carroll. Heaps has been on the field for the Revs for 29 full matches, 16 wins and nine clean sheets, and he's also chipped in a goal and five assists. Gray (surprise!) and Carroll (double surprise!) each have similar numbers, but they're not quite up to the standard Heaps has set."

Check out the New England Revolution Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from November 3, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central