2016 US Open Cup Round 4: Zachary Herivaux’s OT winner sends New England Revolution into Round of 16

The New England Revolution truly outlasted the Carolina RailHawks, winning 1-0 after extra time in a Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Fourth Round game interrupted after ten minutes by a two-hour lightning delay. 20-year-old Zachary Herivaux netted the winning goal in the 103rd minute on a firecracker from just outside the box. Herivaux, the Revs’ homegrown player who had played all of seven minutes since the beginning of the 2015 season, was the difference-maker on the night, also being responsible for holding back many a dangerous 2nd-half RailHawks attack.

The first nine minutes proved uneventful, but not as uneventful as the following two hours, during which play was suspended for lightning and overall nasty conditions. Fortunately, the RailHawks field held up and play resumed.

It was an unusually starter-laden lineup for an MLS team playing a lower-division team on the road. Diego Fagundez, Juan Agudelo, and Kelyn Rowe started alongside rookie revelation Femi Hollinger-Janzen, promising a youthful, dynamic attack. However, that attack never really materialized in the interrupted first half, with the RailHawks getting the slightly better of the first 45. Austin da Luz found the game’s first real chance in the 23rd minute, sending a close but wide-angle shot just past the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Mark Watson got on the end of a corner at the top of the box and sent a laser shot just wide of the goal. Brian Shriver generated the first half’s best chance, skimming the crossbar in the 33rd minute.

For all Carolina’s efforts, however, they went into the half goalless. But it continued to be all RailHawks into the second half, with Austin da Luz, Shriver, and second-half sub Jonathon Orlando bossing the final third, only to come up short on the final touch.

Controversy erupted in the 55th minute, when New England’s London Woodberry appeared to headbutt Drew Beckie, who had just picked up a yellow card a minute earlier, after a scramble in the RailHawks box. The official didn’t give Woodberry a yellow card until after the video replay.

Shriver and da Luz continued to threaten the New England goal, only for Herivaux to provide the saving tackle each time. In the 59th minute, da Luz appeared to miss a sitter. Harivaux was the real culprit, getting to the ball a split-second before da Luz.

The match continued with everyone on the pitch into the 79th minute, when Chris Tierney came on, completing a trio of MLS-regular subs for the Revs (Tierney, Lee Nguyen, and Kei Kamara). The superior talent finally started to shine as the Revs dominated possession, but without a regulation goal to show for it.

That talent would have to win out after the first full-time whistle. In the 103rd minute, Herivaux collected a loose ball at the top of the box and fired into the back of the net.

“Before the break, we thought he was a little tentative, a little nervous,” said New England coach Jay Heaps about Herivaux after the game. “During the break, we had a little heart-to-heart with him just to free himself up, play himself into the game and that’s what he did. When you have young players, you want them to play into the game and of course he scored the goal but he did a lot of things up to that point, winning challenges, defending when we had to.”

The RailHawks would not let up, as second-half substitute Alex Perez nearly equalized in the final moments. Brad Knighton, however, foiled two point-blank Perez efforts in the 117th minute and 121st minute, respectively, to seal New England’s spot in the Round of 16.

“If Knighton isn’t as good as he is tonight,” Heaps said, “we’re probably kicking penalty kicks right now. He was just in the right spots tonight, and that was the difference.”

“We thoroughly deserved to win the game and we didn’t,” said Carolina head coach Colin Clarke. “We didn’t take our chances. I thought we were by far the better team over the course of the 120 minutes, we should be through to the next round and I’m very disappointed.”

For the Revolution, it was just the second game decided in extra time in the club’s history. The first coming against the RailHawks in the 2007 Semifinals when they denied the first-year club a spot in the Final. It was a 93rd minute goal by Pat Noonan that denied Carolina a spot in the championship game.

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