Taylor Twellman

2008 Third Round: Debutantes push Revolution past Richmond Kickers

July 1, 2008 by

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

2007 US Open Cup Final: First time for everything; New England Revolution win first trophy, 3-2 over FC Dallas

October 3, 2007 by Josh Hakala

The New England Revolution captured the club’s first-ever US Open Cup championship (and the first championship of any kind) with a 3-2 win over FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, a stadium where they had lost the last two MLS Cup championship games. Photo: Rick Yeatts

Pat Noonan scored a goal and assisted on two others to help the New England Revolution win their first U.S. Open Cup title, and their first championship of any kind in the club’s 12-year history. The Revolution defeated FC Dallas 3-2 to win the Open Cup at Pizza Hut Park, a stadium where they’ve lost the last two MLS Cup championships.

In the tournament’s first MLS vs. MLS game of the year, the Revs won their first title in their fifth championship game appearance. They lost the 2001 Open Cup final, and fell short three times in the MLS Cup final, and can finally get that monkey off their back.

Noonan opened up the scoring in the 21st minute when Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala failed to control a deflection inside the six-yard box. The ball found its way to Noonan at the post and he tapped it out of the air from point blank range to make it 1-0. The Hoops would equalize nine minutes later on an impressive individual effort by Arturo Alvarez. He dribbled to the top of the box and bent a shot past a diving Matt Reis, which deflected off the post and into the back of the net.

Twellman would send the Revs into the halftime break with a lead when Steve Ralston’s corner kick found Noonan’s head which eventually found its way to Twellman in front who volleyed home his fourth goal of the tournament.

Twellman helped create what turned out to be the game-winner from the left wing where he sent a low cross into the box where it found Noonan, who flicked a pass to Wells Thompson. The rookie from Wake Forest beat Adrian Serioux and blasted a shot past Sala to give the Revs a 3-1 lead.

Dallas would not give up. Less than a minute after entering the match as a substitute, Abe Thompson tapped in a ball that was headed into the area by Clarence Goodson to bring the home side within a goal in the 64th minute.

New England’s defense held on for the 3-2 win in the highest scoring Open Cup final since 1993 when CD Mexico (San Francisco) defeated the United German Hungarians (Philadelphia), 5-0.

The Revolution earned $100,000 for winning the Open Cup, while FC Dallas walks away with $50,000 for second place. The team that advances the furthest from each lower division earns prize money as well, with results against higher level competition as one of the tiebreakers.

The Carolina RailHawks and the Seattle Sounders both advanced to the semifinals, but the Sounders were awarded the $10,000 prize money because they defeated two MLS teams, one more than the RailHawks did. For the USL Second Division, the Richmond Kickers went home with the cash thanks to the tiebreaker over the Harrisburg City Islanders. In the amateur division, which includes the USASA and the Premier Development League teams, the El Paso Patriots earned the prize money by defeating a USL First Division team (Miami FC) in the first round. The Ocean City Barons (PDL) and Bavarian SC (USASA) both earned wins against USL Second Division teams, and fell just short.

Scoring Summary:
NE — Pat Noonan 1 (unassisted) 21
DAL — Arturo Alvarez 1 (David Wagenfuhr ) 30
NE — Taylor Twellman 1 (Pat Noonan ) 41
NE — Wells Thompson 1 (Pat Noonan ) 57
DAL — Abe Thompson 1 (Clarence Goodson ) 64

New England Revolution — Matt Reis, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, James Riley, Andy Dorman, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston, Khano Smith, Wells Thompson (Adam Cristman 78), Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman,

Substitutes Not Used: Gary Flood, Kyle Helton, Marshall Leonard, Abdoulie Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Doug Warren

FC Dallas — Dario Sala, David Wagenfuhr (Kenny Cooper 76), Clarence Goodson, Adrian Serioux, Drew Moor, Dax McCarty, Pablo Ricchetti (Alex Yi 46) (Abe Thompson 63), Juan Toja, Dominic Oduro, Carlos Ruiz, Arturo Alvarez.

Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Chris Gbandi, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine

FC Dallas / New England Revolution
total shots: 12 (Carlos Ruiz 4) 13 (Taylor Twellman 6)
shots on goal: 4 (Arturo Alvarez 2) 6 (Taylor Twellman 4)
fouls: 16 (Clarence Goodson 4,
Pablo Ricchetti 4) 13 (Jeff Larentowicz 4)
offsides: 7 (Dominic Oduro 4) 3 (Taylor Twellman 2)
corner kicks: 4 (Dax McCarty 4) 5 (Steve Ralston 4)
saves: 3 (Dario Sala 3) 2 (Matt Reis 2)

Misconduct Summary:
NE — Jeff Larentowicz (caution; Tackle from Behind) 74
NE — James Riley (caution; Delaying a Restart) 86

referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: George Gansner; Kermit Quisenberry
4th official: Terry Vaughn
time of game: 1:51
attendance: 10,618
weather: Clear -and- 84 degrees

2007 US Open Cup Quarterfinals: Revolution survive late scare, hold off City Islanders 2-1

August 8, 2007 by Josh Hakala

Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution scores a 17th minute goal past Harrisburg City Islanders goalkeeper Matt Nelson in a 2007 US Open Cup Quarterfinal match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Photo: Tony Biscaia

The New England Revolution returned to the US Open Cup Semifinals for the first time since 2001 with a 2-1 win over the Harrisburg City Islanders.

Andy Dorman and Taylor Twellman each scored early first half goals, but the underdogs from the USL Second Division would make it interesting in the final 15 minutes.

Bucking the trend of past years, the Revolution came out with a first rate lineup and it showed early in the game. Shalrie Joseph’s pass found Dorman in the box at close range, and he gave the home side the 1-0 lead just four minutes into the contest.

Less than 15 minutes later, Pat Noonan’s cross found the foot of Twellman to double their lead. New England controlled the majority of the play, but Harrisburg kept it close and refused to allow a third goal.

The Revs missed a handful of chances, including a Twellman header that was destined for the back of the net, but Harrisburg midfielder David Schofield cleared the ball off the line.

The Revolution, in front of a rather scarse crowd at Gillette Stadium (officially announced as 1,512), seemed to put the game into cruise control until the 78th minute. Matt Tanzini came off the bench as a second half substitute for the City Islanders and launched a 30-yard free kick into the upper corner of the goal, leaving New England goalkeeper Matt Reis with no chance of making the save.

However, any momentum that shifted toward the underdogs for the final 12 minutes was dashed in the 90th when Harrisburg’s Anthony Calvano was shown a straight red card for recklessly colliding with Reis. After that, the Revs were able to kill the clock and close out the game.

The Revolution will move on to the Semifinals where they will host the Carolina RailHawks of the USL First Division on Sept. 4. The last time New England reached the final four was in 2001 when they finished as the tournament runner-up, falling to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the championship game.

Scoring Summary
NER – Andy Dorman (Joseph) – 4th
NER – Taylor Twellman (Noonan) – 17th
HAR – Matt Tanzini (unassisted) – 78th

2007 Third Round: Twellman, Ralston lead Revolution past Raging Rhinos

July 10, 2007 by

The New England Revolution and the Rochester Raging Rhinos met for the fourth time in the last five Open Cups and for the third time, the Revs escaped with a narrow victory. A Steve Ralston free kick in the first half and a 67th minute goal by Taylor Twellman put the MLS club up 2-0, but the Rhinos’ Hamed Diallo answered with goals in the 76th and the 85th minute to bring the game level. However, it was Taylor Twellman to the rescue with the game-winner in the 90th minute and Ralston with a penalty kick in stoppage time to put the game away at 4-2.

New England will move on to take on the Harrisburg City Islanders in the Quarterfinals.