Had the New England Revolution lost to the Richmond Kickers in this Third Round matchup in New Britain, Conn., they may have blamed their poor choice of a stadium, as a nearly two-hour lightning delay pushed the start of the game close to 9:00. Strangely, no rain fell at their other prospective US Open Cup homes: Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, and Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, Mass., home of the Kickers’ USL-2 rival Western Mass but used often by New England for Open Cup home games. However, the performance of two players making their professional debut helped to kick-start the Revolution’s defense of their 2007 title by defeating Richmond 3-0.
If the Revolution would’ve lost this game, most fans would’ve certainly placed blame on coach Steve Nicol for trotting out a true B-side. Outside of star Taylor Twellman, who is returning from injury, and Kenny Mansally, who coincidentally was injured at the end of the match, the entire lineup consisted of players who have received nine total starts among the 9 players over the course of the season. Of those nine, four were making their professional debut.
Two of them, Sam Brill and Joe Germanese, scored to lift the Revs in the slop at Veterans Stadium. Brill scored one minute into the second half on a diving header from a Chris Tierney corner kick, while Germanese doubled the tally in the 63rd minute after taking a pass from Chase Hilgenbrink, dribbling it into the box, and placing it past Kickers keeper Ronnie Pascale. Twellman finished off the scoring four minutes later with a header from Tierney, who picked up his second assist on the night.
New England advances to the Quarterfinals next week where they will host, once again, at Veterans Stadium. This time they will face the lowest remaining team in the tournament: Crystal Palace Baltimore, the USL Second Division team who upset the New York Red Bulls in Maryland.
Lineups
New England Revolution: Doug Warren (GK) ©, Chase Hilgenbrinck, Amaechi Igwe, Sam Brill, Rob Valentino, Chris Tierney, Pat Phelan, Brandon Tyler, Joe Germanese, Kenny Mansally, Taylor Twellman (Brandon Manzonelli 73)
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton (GK), Mauricio Castro, Kheli Dube, Jeff Larentowicz, , Sainey Nyassi, Michael Parkhurst
STATS: Shots 17; Shots on Goal 7; Saves 5; Corner Kicks 4; Offsides 1; Fouls Committed 8
Richmond Kickers: Ronnie Pascale (GK), Trevor McEachron, Kelvin Jones (Adam Chavez 68), Anthony Catalano (Ian Bennett 64), Evan Harding, Mike Burke, Luke Vercollone, Stanley Nyazamba (Freddie Smith 68), Sascha Gorres, David Bulow (Ralph Pace 69), Adrian Bambut
Substitutes Not Used: Mark Murphy (GK)
STATS: Shots 9; Shots on Goal 5; Saves 3; Corner Kicks 6; Offsides 6; Fouls Committed 10
Misconduct Summary:
None
Referee: Tony Russo
Referee’s Assistants: Claudio Badea (SAR), Eric Forrest (JAR)
Fourth Official: Guido Gonzalez
Time of Game: 1:48
Weather: Rain and 75 degrees
Attendance: 3,950