Revs Advance to Open Semis

Prevail in PKs Over Crystal Palace Baltimore

July 9, 2008

By Sean Donahue

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- It took penalty kicks, but the Revolution overcame a resilient Crystal Palace Baltimore (USL-2) on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals of the US Open Cup.

Kenny Mansally gave the Revs an early lead, but Baltimore evened it up fourteen minutes later. Despite ample opportunities for both sides to grab a winner, the match wound up being decided on penalties, where a huge save by Doug Warren helped propel the Revs to the semifinals.

The Revs and Crystal Palace exchanged goals in the first three rounds of the penalty kick shootout with Chase Hilgenbrinck, Kheli Dube and Chris Tierney scoring for New England. In the fourth round Amaechi Igwe buried his shot, and Warren came up huge, diving to his right to deny Val Teixeira. Mauricio Castro then scored for the Revs in the fifth to clinch the victory.

"I kind of had a feeling," said Warren of the save. "I knew he was going to be walking up to the ball slower than the other guys and he hit his spot, but I kind of read it early."

Kenny Mansally makes a move to get by CP Baltimore 'keeper Brian Rowland. (Photo credit: Art Donahue).

"We certainly would have liked to have finished it in 90 minutes," said Revs’ coach Steve Nicol. "But give them credit. We didn't capitalize on some of the chances we had and some of the good balls that went in. They did put us under pressure sometimes with their speed up top."

Mansally gave the Revs the lead in just the sixth minute after Brandon Tyler received the ball near midfield and sent a through ball to Mansally near the top of the box. The Gambian international used his speed to beat the defense and round the keeper, before slotting the ball into the empty net.

"I think it was a good goal," said Mansally. "They sent the ball from the midfield to us and then I saw the goalie was starting [off his line], so the [defense] didn't come out for it. I tried to get around him to finish. It was a good goal for me."

Another six minutes later, it was Taylor Twellman with a chance. Chris Tierney made a run down the left flank and found Twellman just outside the six yard box, but his header was well wide of the target.

"I thought that whipping balls in was going to be the best way to go against this team because they were so dropped off in their own half," said Tierney. "Getting it wide and trying to get them that way I thought was going to be the best way to find a goal. Credit to their center backs, they made it real tough for Kenny and Taylor on balls being whipped in. They were being real physical. I was hoping we maybe would have gotten a little more protection from the referees. It's tough to put the ball in the net when you have two hands wrapped firmly around you."

A minute later Chase Hilgenbrinck got caught with the ball near the sideline in the defensive third and Bryan Harkin stole it. The Crystal Palace midfielder sent a cross into the box that Matthew Mbuta managed to take down near the penalty spot. Warren charged out and managed to save the powerful shot once Mbuta got the ball under control.

Just seconds after that, Gary Brooks got free in the box and around Warren, but Amaechi Igwe was there to clear it off the line.

Crystal Palace tied it up in the 20th minute after the Revolution failed to clear a corner kick. After several deflected shots, the ball fell to Matthew Lader who hammered a low shot into the far corner to make it 1-1.

The Revs should have taken the lead back in the 29th minute after Twellman was sent free on goal on a nice through pass. Twellman put a shot on frame, but 'keeper Brian Rowland managed to tip it wide. Mansally got on the end of the rebound, but his shot went high of the open net.

Larry Mark nearly added a second for Crystal Palace in the 33rd minute. After a poor tackle from Igwe, for which he would receive a yellow card, the referee signaled play on. The ball fell to Mark in the right side of the box and he sent a shot towards the far post. The shot was deflected and Warren managed to get just enough on it to tip it wide to keep the score tied.

The Revs moved Hilgenbrinck, who had been playing on the right side of the defense in the first half, to his natural position at left back in the second and the Revs defense looked much less shaky after the switch. Coming out of the half the Revs looked good going forward right away, with a diving header from Twellman on a free kick going just wide of the net. A few minutes later Pat Phelan collided with Rowland challenging for the ball, and saw it roll just wide of the near post.

The Revs had an opportunity in the 64th minute when Twellman and Mansally combined at the top of the box. Mansally's eventual shot was targeted for inside the far post, but Rowland made the diving save.

Twellman should have down better with his chance in the 75th minute. The Revs all time leading scorer played the ball to Mansally on the right side of the box. Mansally crossed it to Twellman, who was about six yards from goal, but the 28-year-old striker somehow managed to scuff his shot well wide of the target.

"[Our partnership] was alright," said Twellman. "I thought it could have been a lot better, to be honest. Kenny and I are on different pages a lot of times, so I think it obviously could've been a lot better, but we got a win and that's all that matters."

In the dying seconds of the overtime, CPB saw midfielder Sergio Flores ejected for a poorly timed slide tackle from behind on Pat Phelan.

The win means the Revolution advance to the semifinals, where they will take on D.C. United at RFK Stadium on August 12.

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