Revs Romp Lowly Red Bulls

A Night of Milestones in 4-0 Win

By Sean Donahue

June 7, 2009

FOXBORO, Mass. - Taylor Twellman scored his 100th goal, Jay Heaps made his 300th appearance, and Matt Reis secured his 50th shutout as the New England Revolution beat the New York Red Bulls, 4-0 at Gillette Stadium Sunday.

Heaps gave the Revs the lead at the end of the first half and Steve Ralston added a second before Twellman scored his first two goals of the season.

Jay Heaps

Jay Heaps celebrated his 300th MLS appearance with a goal and an assist Sunday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

“You don’t expect to win 4-0 every Saturday,” said Revs head coach Steve Nicol. “I think we made chances. We could have scored more. Matt [Reis] in goal looked solid. We defended pretty solid, but we can get better. We can certainly get better at passing the ball; I don’t think we did that as well as we can. We should be happy we won 4-0 at home, so we’re happy, but we’re not daft. When we lost [big] at Salt Lake and we didn’t get carried away and we are not going to get carried away winning by four.”

Heaps, wearing the captain’s armband, scored his first goal of the season in the last kick of the first half. Steve Ralston got the ball on the right flank and sent it in to Shalrie Joseph near the penalty spot. Joseph, with his back to goal, found Heaps, who was running in unmarked on the left side of the box. Heaps hit a low shot past New York keeper Jon Conway inside the near post for his 17th career goal.

“I knew that it was almost in injury time, so that was the only reason I made that run that deep,” said Heaps. “I saw Ralston go down. Ralston’s so good and [he and] Sainey [Nyassi] did a great little one-two on the sideline. I knew if I got somewhere in the box there would be a chance that it would come across and I was up there for that.

“I think for me [300 games] is special,” Heaps added. “Most of my career has been here and I love playing here. I never put a goal on getting to 300. I didn’t know about it until this year. Really I think for me, it’s just I want everyone to know that I play every game as if it was my last. I think that’s something that I’m proud of; I never hold anything back. Whether it’s playoffs or regular season, I’m going to leave everything I have on the field.”

“[The timing of the goal] was huge,” said Nicol. “[The Red Bulls] are tired. Obviously when you play Thursday and Sunday it’s physically very difficult, but I think obviously that was a good time for us to score. It meant they had to come out somewhat and leave some more holes.”

Ralston made it 2-0 in the 52nd. Heaps won the ball on the right flank near the endline and cutback before sending a cross into the box. Ralston rose above his defender and headed it towards the far post. His shot hit off the post before entering the net.

“Tonight [Heaps] chose the perfect times to go forward and when not to,” said Nicol, “and you see he scores one and makes one. Particularly tonight in his 300th game, he couldn’t have wished for anything more, I’m sure.”

Twellman, a halftime substitute made it 3-0 in the 57th minute, heading in a Joseph cross from close range. At 29 years and 100 days old, Twellman became the youngest player in league history to reach 100 goals.

“I want to thank God just for giving me an opportunity to get healthy again,” said Twellman. “It’s been a long road. It’s hard to put it into words, but for me, I’ve been blessed playing with so many good guys: Ralston, Shalrie, Heaps, you can go down the line, Jeff [Larentowicz]. Everyone that has been here six, seven, eight years with me, they’ve made the job real easy, along with Steve Nicol and Paul [Mariner]. Really it’s just a fruition of what my teammates have done and I’m just doing my job.”

Twellman made it 4-0 in the 64th minute. He got the ball in the box from Ralston, and slotted it past Conway with his left foot, bringing his career total to 101.

“All I have to do is get open and you are going to have guys on this team finding you and playing great balls to you,” said Twellman. “It’s kind of ridiculous how good the service is I’ve had in the seven, eight years I’ve been here. For me it was a typical goal. I scored on a head ball and I scored on a sliding shot tonight from Steve Ralston and Shalrie. It’s just the way it’s been since I’ve been here.”

The Revs’ first good chance of the match came in the 12th minute when Joseph sent a long pass across the field into the path of Nyassi. Nyassi used his speed to beat his defender and then make a run into the box before getting off a right footed shot. Nyassi’s shot towards the far post was denied by a diving Conway. The rebound nearly fell to Ralston, but the ball was cleared out before he could get to it.

Seconds later the Red Bulls had a great chance when Dane Richards got the ball at the top of the box. Richards seemed to have beaten the Revolution defense, but mishit his shot.

Larentowicz threatened to score in the 16th minute with a free kick from about 25 yards out. Larentowicz curled a shot around the wall and towards the upper corner, but Conway managed to tip it over the net.

After the Revs were up by four, New York threatened in the 72nd minute when Nick Zimmerman dribbled in toward the top of the box and unleashed a low shot on frame. A well positioned Reis managed to make the save and hold onto the ball.

Rookie Kevin Alston came up big to preserve the shutout for the Revs in the 80th minute, clearing a John Wolyniec header off the line after Reis was beat on a corner kick.

The Revs next head back out on the road to take on the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.