FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Praise for New England goalkeeper Matt Reis came from all corners of Gillette Stadium after his stellar performance in Wednesday night's 1-1 draw with Houston.
Reis made seven saves to keep his side in the match despite a Dynamo barrage that placed the Revolution back line under pressure for most of the evening.
“Matt was huge for the whole 90 minutes,” Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph said after the match. “Even on the goal, he made a great save on the first [shot]. We couldn’t ask for more from him, especially tonight. He was huge for us.”
WATCH: Reis denies Cameron
Reis' assortment of saves — including two top-shelf stops on Houston midfielder Geoff Cameron — also drew plaudits from Houston coach Dominic Kinnear after Bobby Boswell snatched an equalizer at the death to give the visitors a point.
“[I was thinking] I hope we score because Matt Reis was saving everything that was getting thrown his way tonight and, luckily for us, we snuck one by him,” Kinnear said. “I think it was nothing short of what we deserved. I give [Reis] a lot of credit. I thought he was great tonight.”
Reis' dismissal places Revs in record territory
Reis capped his fine performance on a sour note after picking up a red card in stoppage time for his part in a scrum incited by Adam Moffat's barge on Pat Phelan just before the final whistle.
Referee Michael Kennedy said in a written statement that he dismissed the veteran goalkeeper “for use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures.”
Reis' ejection marked New England's league-high eighth dismissal of the season and ties a club record for most red cards collected by the squad during a single season. With nine matches left in the season, the Revolution could tie or break the single-season MLS record of 11 set by the 2000 MetroStars.
Lekic could feature at the weekend
Revolution coach Steve Nicol said on Tuesday that he hopes to have Rajko Lekic (right great toe fracture) back in the squad in time for Saturday's match against New York.
“We're hopeful for the weekend for him, but we're not 100 percent sure,” Nicol said. “We'll see when he trains. He's been off it for, what, almost three weeks. So we'll see.”
Nicol said he isn't quite as sure about the status of Sainey Nyassi as he attempts to return from a right MCL sprain.
“It's hard to say,” Nicol said prior to the draw against the Dynamo. “It's day-to-day. It just depends. At the present time, there doesn't seem to be any structural damage to his knee. It's just a case of getting over the bruising and all of the rest of it.”
While Lekic and Nyassi continue to battle injuries off the field, Kevin Alston played 90 minutes against Houston with a hard cast on his left arm to protect a scaphoid injury.
Kinne beams as Monmouth leads Hermann watch list
Revolution midfielder Ryan Kinne couldn't believe what he saw when the Missouri Athletic Club released its preseason watch list for the Hermann Award on Monday.
Monmouth, Kinne's alma mater, placed three of his former teammates (defenders R.J. Allen and Anthony Vasquez, and midfielder Max Hamilton) on the 42-player list. No other school — not even perennial powers like Akron and UCLA — boasted as many nominees.
Kinne, a two-time NSCAA All-America selection, cited the progress of the program under coach Robert McCourt as the reason why the soccer team at a small, private university (undergraduate enrollment: 4,744) in West Long Branch, N.J., has emerged as a national contender.
“It's pretty incredible,” Kinne said. “Even when I saw it [on Monday] — the headline on the NSCAA website was Monmouth — it's pretty impressive. It just shows you how far Robbie has taken the program. There are high expectations for them now.”
