BATON ROUGE, La. - Arsene Oka scored two goals and Adam Cristman factored in three goals with one goal and added two assists as the New England Revolution defeated USL side New Orleans Shell Shockers, 4-0, at LSU Soccer Complex on Wednesday evening. Oka's goals were his second and third of the preseason, while Cristman tallied his fifth of the preseason for the Revs. With the victory, the Revolution completed their six-game preseason schedule with a 6-0-0 record and outscored their opponents by a combined 20-3.
The game against New Orleans, the Revs' second of their eight-day training trip to Louisiana, was played before a sell-out crowd of 1,936 fans in Baton Rouge.
Cristman struck early, putting the Revs ahead in the second minute. After he suffered a foul on the right flank, thirty yards from goal, Steve Ralston angled his free kick to the penalty area, where it knocked around to James Riley. Riley's turn-around shot was wide left, but Cristman charged onto the ball and drove a shot with his right instep past Shell Shockers goalkeeper Tom Gott for the 1-0 lead.
The Revs maintained possession in their attacking half of the field throughout the first half and went close to scoring several times, but New Orleans had a grand chance in the 23rd minute. Ronnie Flores got behind the Revs back line and connected with Chris Murray's long, angled cross for a free header from nine yards out in the center of the penalty area, which went narrowly wide left.
Cristman nearly factored in another potential second goal in first-half stoppage time after he was again fouled just outside the penalty area. Jeff Larentowicz and Khano Smith stood over the free kick near the right edge of the area, with Smith stepping up and bending his left-footed shot around the Shell Shockers' five-man wall and wide of the far post by inches.
After taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, Smith increased the Revs' lead to two goals with his blast from 15 yards out to the right post in the 57th minutes. After he sent the ball into to the penalty area to Cristman, back to goal just left of the penalty spot, Cristman pinged the ball back out to Smith, who ripped a shot to the far post past Gott for the 2-0 lead.
Two minutes later in the 59th minute, Oka converted a Cristman cross and gave the Revolution a 3-0 advantage. After Wells Thompson dropped a pass off to Cristman, he dribbled deep along the endline, sending in a low cross back across the net. Oka, coming on along the left post, headed down Cristman's pass from three yards out, beating Gott, and scoring his second goal of the preseason.
New England played with a man advantage for the final 17 minutes of the match after the Shell Shockers were forced to play down a man after Ronnie Flores went in with a dangerous tackle on Thompson in New Orleans attacking third and was red carded.
New Orleans made a goalkeeper change in the 84th minute, and the new keeper - Jose Reyes - was immediately tested. Oka came down the left wing alone and sent a low cross into the penalty area. Larentowicz ran onto the pass, but Reyes smothered it first as Larentowicz leapt over him.
However, Oka wasn't done and added his second goal of the night on the Revs' next trip into their attacking third. He took the ball at midfield from Marshall Leonard and dribbled in and around one defender. He ripped a left-footed shot from the top of the penalty area, beating Reyes to the upper left corner of the net to score his third goal of the preseason.
The Revolution kicks off the 2007 season on April 7 against the Chicago Fire in Bridgeview, Ill., before hosting expansion team Toronto FC at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, in the second game of a special soccer event doubleheader that also sees the U.S. Women's National Team take on Mexico's Women's National Team at Gillette Stadium at 5 p.m.
New England Revolution vs. New Orleans Shell Shockers
March 28, 2007 - LSU Soccer Stadium (Baton Rouge, La.)
Scoring Summary
NE - Adam Cristman (James Riley) 2
NE - Khano Smith (Cristman) 57
NE - Arsene Oka (Cristman, Wells Thompson) 59
NE - Oka (Marshall Leonard) 85
New England Revolution: Matt Reis, Avery John (Marshall Leonard 64), James Riley, Jay Heaps, Khano Smith (Bryan Byrne 62),, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph (Wells Thompson 37), Steve Ralston ©, Andy Dorman (Miguel Gonzalez 72), Willie Sims (Arsene Oka 46), Adam Cristman (Chris Loftus 68)
Substitutes Not Used: Doug Warren, Brad Knighton, Gary Flood, Ryan Solle
New Orleans Shell Shockers: Tom Gott (Jose Reyes 84), Chris Brown, Seginho Sndy, Nick Lambert, Colin Rocke (Tito Castro 58, Josey Portillo 86), Chris Murphy (Roberto Naharro 78), Steven Medlock (Glenn Benjamin 80), Juho Karjalainen, Edwin Ruiz (Gannon Webb 61), P.J. Kee (Francis Reyes 84), Ronnie Floresa
Substitutes Not Used: Pablo Arroyo, Martine Montero, Matt Kelso, Adam Gold, Lee Westlake
Misconduct Summary:
NE - James Riley (caution, dissent) 6
NO - Chris Brown (caution, reckless foul) 46+
NE - Jeff Larentowicz (caution, professional foul) 62
NO - Ronnie Flores (ejection, reckless foul) 73
NE - Arsene Oka (caution, unsportmanlike conduct) 85
Referee: Abby Okulaja
Referee's Assistants: Anthony Vasoli, Mark deClouet
Fourth Official: Mitch Jacobs
Time of Game:
Weather: Clear, 75 degrees
Attendance: 1,936 (sell-out)
NOTES
