Just a few days after losing a gut-punching penalty shootout in the U.S. Open Cup, the Revs turned things around to beat Chicago.
FOXBORO, Mass. -- If not redemption, the win over the Chicago Fire at least provided a quick palette cleanser for the New England Revolution.On Tuesday night the Revolution traveled to face the Harrisburg Islanders in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. Following a scoreless 90 minutes, the match went into extra time.In the first period of extra time New England took a commanding 3-0 lead and seemed certain to move to the next round of the competition, but the Islanders stunned the visitors by scoring three late goals in the second period of extra time.
The Revolution lost the game in penalties.
Benny Feilhaber, who scored one and assisted in the 2-0 win over Chicago, was happy to erase the memory of the disappointing defeat with a victory over the Fire.
“It was really nice to get that Open Cup game out of my head because that was a nightmare for all the guys that went there,” Feilhaber said. “It wasn’t good enough and it was depressing and it was everything that you could possibly think it was. So it was really good to be able to get that lead and not relinquish it."
Kelyn Rowe played a full 120 minutes in the Open Cup match. The rookie came off the bench to spark New England's win, scoring within five minutes of entering against the Fire.
"(Tuesday’s result) was huge," Rowe said. "That comeback wasn’t something that you see every day, and it was something that was definitely disappointing to the team and the club. We wanted to get back and make sure that we won today."
New England now has five wins on the season, the same amount of wins it earned in the entire 2011 MLS season.
"That’s three points against a team that was five points ahead of us, and now we cut the gap down to two to be in the playoff top five, so it's exactly what we wanted," Feilhaber said.
Revolution coach Jay Heaps praised his game-changers after the match.
"I thought that Benny did everything right tonight," Heaps said. "He defended when we needed him to defend and when he had his chances to change the game, he did. It was really important he went out there and played that way." Rowe assisted Feilhaber's clincher as well as scored the winner, despite playing 120 minutes midweek. "Kelyn is all go and you love about him that because there's no governor around him."
Rowe and the rest of the Revolution will get a good rest this week. The team has a bye and will not play until June 16 at home against the Columbus.
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