On Friday night New England Revolution II fell to the Richmond Kickers at Gillette Stadium with a 2-1 final score. With the loss Revs II drop to 0-2-2 on the 2020 USL League One season. New England is now winless in their first four matches of their USL League One existence.
This match was goaless in the first half and it wasn’t until Richmond’s Emilian Terzaghi scored in the 53d minute that the game saw action. New England tied things in the 71st minute with Mayele Malango scoring on what was a goalazo. Richmond took the lead once again with the game winning goal by Ryley Kraft coming in the 82nd minute.
”On the corner kick, it came out to Ryan [Spaulding] and I overlapped him, he passed to me, and I just tried to get the shot off,’ said Revs II Foward Mayele Malango on the goal. “It happened really quickly, I got the pass from Ryan, I overlapped him, he gave me the ball and I took the shot. After I scored I felt happy and excited because it’s always been a dream for me to score my first professional goal ever so I’m really happy and excited to score my first goal.”
First teamers were once again on display for Revs II with Colin Verfurth, Nicolas Firmino, Isaac Angking, and Damian Rivera all getting starts on the night. Firmino was crisp with an 89.1% passing completion and had a game high 36 passes in the opposing half of the pitch.
2020 MLS SuperDraft pick Keegan Meyer made his professional debut in net making three saves on five shots on target.
It is worth noting that Revolution head Coach Clint Peay was not at this match with Assistant Coach Marcelo Santos taking the helm. Peay had inconsistent COVID-19 test results and the team made the decision to not have him at the game to make sure the proper precautions were being done.
Revs II will have to rebound quickly as they have a midweek kick at Gillette with Greenville Triumph coming in on Wednesday. That will be followed by a road trip to take on Chattanooga Red Wolves SC on Saturday.
“I think we have a big group,” said Revolution Assistant Coach Marcelo Santos. “In times like this, it’s important to stay 100 percent or to rotate the lineup and try different things to make sure that we are still ready to compete because at this level that’s what we need – we need to be ready to compete physically and be up for any challenge the other team brings to us.”
