FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Adam Cristman and Steve Ralston scored first-half goals and goalkeeper Matt Reis made a career-high 10 saves, as the New England Revolution held off FC Dallas, 2-1, on Friday night at Gillette Stadium.
Second-half substitute Arturo Alvarez scored in the 90th minute to pull a goal back for Dallas late in the match, but it wasn't enough, as Reis' strong effort in net helped the Revs hold on for the win.
New England (7-3-2, 23 pts.) remained atop the Eastern Conference and MLS standings by extending its league-best unbeaten run to five games, as the club is 4-0-1 over that span, while Dallas (3-5-4, 13 pts.) is now winless in its last three matches.
The Revs opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Cristman - starting his first match since May 3 against Chicago - scored his third goal of the season. Right midfielder Sainey Nyassi worked his way past his defender down the wing, creating space to send in a cross from the end line. His cross was curled to the back post, where Cristman escaped his marker and buried a diving header inside the post from six yards out.
The Hoops almost tied the game just three minutes later, but Bobby Rhine's curling drive from the left side of the box hit the crossbar. Dallas midfielder Marcelo Saragosa was first to the rebound and hit a low cross to the far post for Kenny Cooper to put in the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
New England extended its lead to 2-0 in the 22nd minute, as Ralston converted a penalty kick after Jeff Larentowicz was fouled in the box by Dallas defender Drew Moor. The play began with a Revolution corner kick, on which Shalrie Joseph's powerful header was saved by Hoops goalkeeper Ray Burse. However, in the course of the play, Moor elbowed Larentowicz to create the spot-kick opportunity.
Larentowicz came close to pushing the Revolution's advantage to 3-0 just over one minute into the second half, but his driven header from 12 yards out was pushed wide by Burse.
Reis made an important save in the 62nd minute to prevent Dallas from cutting the lead in half. Rhine stole the ball off of Revs defender Jay Heaps just outside the box and had an open shot from 10 yards out, but Reis made the stop with his legs and then scrambled to gather the loose ball before Rhine could reach the rebound.
Reis was again called into action to deny Cooper on a trio of close-range chances in the 74th, 79th and 85th minutes, stopping two right-footed drives and a diving header.
Alvarez did finally put the visitors on the board - and spoiled Reis' shutout bid in the process - in the 90th minute. Forward Dominic Oduro sent a looping cross from the right wing to the back post, where a wide open Alvarez struck a full volley into roof of net from inside the six-yard box.
The Revs will return to the road for their next match on Thursday, June 12, when they will visit two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium, with coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET. The match will be televised nationally as part of ESPN2's MLS Primetime Thursday - marking the Revolution's fourth appearance on ESPN2 this season - and will include a 30-minute pregame show. The game will be available on ESPN2 HD, while radio listeners will be able to tune in on the WEEI Radio Network.
New England Revolution vs. FC Dallas
June 6, 2008 - Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium)
Scoring Summary:
NE - Adam Cristman (Sainey Nyassi) 5
NE - Steve Ralston (penalty kick) 22
DAL - Arturo Alvarez (Dominic Oduro) 90
New England Revolution: Matt Reis (GK), Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Chris Albright, Mauricio Castro (Khano Smith 60), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Sainey Nyassi, Steve Ralston © (Amaechi Igwe 80), Adam Cristman, Kheli Dube
Substitutes Not Used: Doug Warren (GK), Chase Hilgenbrinck, Wells Thompson, Chris Tierney, Brandon Tyler
STATS: Shots 11; Shots on Goal 8; Saves 10; Corner Kicks 3; Offsides 0; Fouls Committed 16
FC Dallas: Ray Burse (GK), Adrian Serioux (Blake Wagner 64), Duilio Davino ©, Drew Moor, Bobby Rhine (Arturo Alvarez 71), Pablo Richetti, Marcelo Saragosa (Abe Thompson 77), Andre Rocha, Juan Toja, Dominic Oduro, Kenny Cooper
Substitutes Not Used: Mike Graczyk (GK), Michael Dello-Russo, Aaron Pitchkolan, Anthony Wallace
STATS: Shots 21; Shots on Goal 11; Saves 6; Corner Kicks 9; Offsides 3; Fouls Committed 15
Misconduct Summary:
DAL - Drew Moor (caution) 21
DAL - Duilio Davino (caution) 21
DAL - Andre Rocha (caution) 24
NE - Kheli Dube (caution) 48
DAL - Bobby Rhine (caution) 51
NE - Jay Heaps (caution) 70
Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee's Assistants: George Gansner (SAR), Steven Taylor (JAR)
Fourth Official: Joe Caroccio
Time of Game: 1:55
Weather: Cloudy and 61 degrees
Attendance: 54,045
NOTES
• The match served as the first half of a special soccer doubleheader with the national teams of Brazil - currently the world's second-ranked team - and Venezuela ... together, the doubleheader drew 54,045 to Gillette Stadium.
• The Revolution improved to 21-9-1 all-time against Dallas ... New England's .694 winning percentage against the Hoops represents the club's highest winning percentage against any MLS team.
• With the win, New England swept the regular-season series, 2-0-0 ... the Revs defeated Dallas, 1-0, on April 24 at Pizza Hut Park. New England improved to 6-1-0 all-time at Gillette Stadium against the Hoops ... the club is now 10-5-0 all-time at home against Dallas.
• The Revs have now won five straight matches over Dallas at Gillette Stadium dating back to 2003. The Revolution is 13-3-0 against Dallas under head coach Steve Nicol (dating back to 2002).
• Defender Jay Heaps made history with his start, as the 31-year-old veteran became the first player in Revolution history to make 200 appearances with the club ... Heaps - who has played every minute of every game for the Revs so far this season - has been with New England since 2001, when he was acquired in a trade with the Miami Fusion, making him the team's longest-tenured player ... following Friday night's match, Heaps is now the Revolution's all-time leader in games played (200), games started (195) and minutes played (17,829) ... the Longmeadow, Mass., native is just one of three Revs (along with Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman) to have started in each of New England's four MLS Cup appearances ... Heaps is the 17th player in MLS history to have played at least 200 games with one club ... Cobi Jones is the all-time leader in games played for one club with 306 games played for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
• Matt Reis made a regular-season career-high 10 saves ... the figure matched his overall career-high, as the Revs goalkeeper also stopped 10 shots in the 2007 Eastern Conference Final against Chicago (Nov. 8).
• Adam Cristman earned his first start since May 3 against Chicago and scored for the second consecutive game ... Cristman is now tied for the team lead with three goals.
• Adam Cristman's goal in the fifth minute was the Revolution's earliest of the season ... prior to Cristman's goal, Kheli Dube's sixth-minute strike against San Jose (May 17) had been the Revs' fastest goal this season.
• Right midfielder Sainey Nyassi's assist on Adam Cristman's goal was the first of the 19-year-old's career ... the Gambian now has two goals and one assist this season.
• Steve Ralston's penalty kick goal was the first successful penalty kick by the Revolution since Shalrie Joseph's spot-kick strike on July 22, 2007 against Houston ... the tally marked Ralston's first regular-season penalty-kick goal since Sept. 30, 2006 vs. Colorado ... the midfielder did score on a penalty kick in a U.S. Open Cup match at Rochester (4-2 win) on July 10, 2007.
• Steve Ralston's goal was his first since scoring the Revolution's first goal of 2008 in the season opener on March 29 against Houston.
