Revs Top Rhinos In U.S. Open Cup

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Matt LaPan, GoLocal Worcester Sports Reporter

Photo by: Jeff Bernstein

The New England Revolution took the field for the first time in Providence, R.I. as they hosted the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Pro and came away victorious, capturing a 2-1 win in the fifth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Revs were led by goal scorers Saer Sene and Kelyn Rowe.

With the win the Revs will move on in the Open Cup tournament when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Philadelphia Union in the quarterfinals on July 8.

The Revs got on the board early off the left foot of Saer Sene in the 11th minute. The play was set up on a good back-and-forth between Sene and Lee Nguyen. Nguyen put the final touch on the left foot of the Frenchman and he snuck a shot inside the near post.

"After 79 minutes [played] and a goal and a win its good," Sene said following the game. "Very good. I hope to keep it up."

The Revs were not done however, finding the back of the net again in the 33rd minute. This time it was Kelyn Rowe, scoring his sixth careers Open Cup goal in just five Open Cup games. It was Rowe's first goal of the season.

"[It was] Just a monkey off my back, just gonna take it off real quick" Rowe said when asked about the goal. "Like I said, guys put me in a good position, I'm hoping I get in position again."

Rochester made a the Revs night a little harder in the 55th minute when Colin Rolfe found the back of the net off a very good feed by Johnny Mendoza. Mendoza made a nice volley to himself before delivering a great cross which Rolfe put into the upper corner with a diving header.

Neither team created another quality scoring chance for the rest of the game, but the game stayed very intense. Both teams played very physical down the stretch and play got very chippy. The chippy play boiled over for Rochester late in the game as Babcar Diallo was shown a straight red card after kicking Revs forward Patrick Mullins following a play. The Rhinos ended the game with three yellow cards and a red while the Revs had just one yellow.

With the win the Revolution move to 15-11-4 all-time in the U.S. Open Cup and will play in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.