FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — From the moment New England Revolution goalkeeper Preston Burpo rushed off his line to challenge New York forward Dane Richards, the dynamic in the Revolution's 3-2 victory over the Red Bulls changed.
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As Burpo went to challenge Richards after he streaked in to latch onto Joel Lindpere's pass, his right foot caught in the turf. Richards' ensuing challenge caught Burpo's right leg and it couldn't withstand the impact. Burpo had broken his tibia and fibula. He was stretchered off the field and into a waiting ambulance to take him to Massachusetts General Hospital.
The horrific incident shook the New England players on the field and sent at least one of them into tears. While the medical personnel tended to the injured Burpo, Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph and coach Steve Nicol collected the team and addressed them on the field as they waited to hear word on their fallen teammate.
Joseph and Nicol communicated a clear message during that huddle: Win the game for Preston.
“I told them just to keep their heads up and focus on the game,” Joseph said. “You can’t do anything about it—it happened and you just go out there and do it for Preston and ourselves. You’ve got a lot of people that are depending on us, so you just hold you head up and play soccer.”
New England had played soccer fairly well up until that point. Joseph restored the long-missing rhythm to the Revolution possession game and supplied a deft chip to prompt Marko Perovic for the opener after eight minutes. Seth Stammer's equalizer had a bit of floated fortune to it as it nestled into the back of the net in the 20th minute, but Seth Sinovic's teasing ball forced Tim Ream to score a stellar header into his own net four minutes later to restore the lead.
It took the Revolution some time to push Burpo's injury to one side and regain their composure. Backup goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth came on for his first MLS appearance and made a fine stop on Sinisa Ubiparipovic in first-half injury time to preserve the lead, but he couldn't do anything about Juan Pablo Angel's simple header from six yards to level the proceedings four minutes after the break.
Gut check time occurred shortly thereafter and a pair of New York red cards handed the Revs the boost they needed to eventually snap their seven-match winless streak.
With the time and space on offer, the Revs eventually made the decisive breakthrough. Joseph once again provided the telling ball by curling a deft cross right into Zach Schilawski's stride headed toward the near post.
“I timed a run there on the offside line at the 18,” Schilawski said. “Shalrie got the ball there and laid one up and I just tried to find a gap there and make a run. Shalrie weighed that perfectly and slipped it right between the goalkeeper and the defender so I could get onto it and just flipped it into the goal.”
Schilawski's team-leading fifth goal of the season gave New England the win they craved before the game and needed after Burpo's injury. While it won't wipe away the horror of watching Burpo suffer a serious injury, it may give the Revs some momentum as they head to Seattle next Saturday.
“We knew coming into the game that we knew it was a huge game and a big opportunity to get back into the Eastern Conference race,” Sinovic said. “Obviously, we never want something like that to happen to one of our teammates, especially Preston, who has been rock solid and the heart of our team so far this year. At the same time, one of the most difficult parts is trying to stay focused when something like that happens. I think we did a pretty good job of that and we ended up getting the victory."
