FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution Reserves earned a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire Reserves on Sunday evening at Gillette Stadium. Second-year forward Willie Sims' strike was the only goal of the game as Revs' reserves completed the day's sweep of the Fire after the first team earned a 3-1 win immediately preceding the reserve match.
With the victory, New England (2-0-0, 6 pts.) won its second reserve contest of the season and moved into a first-place tie with Colorado and New York in the MLS Reserve Division standings. The loss left Chicago (0-2-1, 1 pt.) still searching for its first reserve-division win of the season.
Sims scored his second reserve-division goal of the season in the 42nd minute and it stood for as game-winner. Sims converted Arsene Oka's cross from the endline after Wells Thompson - who had previously scored his first-career MLS goal in the first-team game - found the former Ivory Coast youth international out of the midfield.
Down 1-0 at the half, Chicago substitute goalkeeper Nick Noble stepped up and made several key saves in the second half to keep the Fire within one goal, including a pair of stops on Oka's one-on-one breakaways.
Chicago had one final chance to level the score in stoppage time, when the team earned a free kick 12 yards off the penalty box. However, Nate Norman's service was wide left of the goal, and Doug Warren stepped up to intercept the ball as referee Russell Wolf blew the whistle to end the game.
Warren earned the shutout with five saves and several intercepted crosses.
The Chicago reserves return to action on Saturday, May 12, when they face the Toronto FC reserves following the squads' first-team match at BMO Field. The Revolution reserves will next see action on Sunday, May 13, when they play the Los Angeles Galaxy reserves at The Home Depot Center at 9 a.m. PT.
Chicago Fire Reserves at New England Revolution Reserves
May 6, 2007 - Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium)
Scoring Summary
NE - Willie Sims (Arsene Oka, Wells Thompson) 42
Chicago Fire: Jon Busch (Nick Noble 46), Daniel Woolard (Nate Norman 75), Jeff Curtin, Osei Telerford, Bakary Soumare, Logan Pause, Brian Plotkin, Justin Mapp (Jordan Russolillo 63), Floyd Franks (Monir Hassen 84), Calen Carr, Pascal Bedrossian (Mike Banner 63)
Substitutes Not Used: Erik Hort
New England Revolution: Doug Warren, Marshall Leonard, Gary Flood, Amaechi Igwe, Wells Thompson (Chris Loftus 46), Ryan Solle, Joe Franchino (Anders Kelto 46), Miguel Gonzalez, Bryan Byrne (Geoff Walker 76), Arsene Oka, Willie Sims
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton (GK)
Misconduct Summary:
CHI - Floyd Franks (caution) 25
CHI - Osei Telesford (caution) 28
NE - Amaechi Igwe (caution) 45
Referee: Russell Wolf
Referee's Assistants: Victor Matheson (SAR), Claudio Badea (JAR)
Fourth Official: Sean Nally
Weather: Clear and 49 degrees
