Final: Revolution 1, Dynamo 1
Adam Moffat nailed Pat Phelan as the ball rolled out of bounds with time expiring. Reis, who was running after the ball, shoved Moffat in retaliation, and the benches soon cleared.
Reis and Moffat got at it a bit, with Reis shoving Moffat right in the face. Order was restored and the game ended as a 1-1 tie.
Disappointing result for the Revs, who held the lead for nearly all 90 minutes. A late flukey Houston goal tied the testy game, which saw plenty of shoves from both sides.
Matt Reis is surely the player of the game with some excellent saves. The late goal he allowed was the result of poor luck — the shot bounced off his chest, rolling right to the feet of the Dynamo's Boswell.
Well, that's it for tonight. Thanks for reading, and check out NESN.com for continued Revs coverage.
Extra Time: Benny Feilhaber got a free kick, but the ball was headed out of bounds.
Houston's Jermaine Taylor just received a caution.
90th Minute: Dynamo goal!
A Houston corner was headed in front of the net off Matt Reis. The ball hit off his chest and dropped at the feet of Bobby Boswell, who easily chipped it in.
89th Minute: Revs controlling it on offense right now, not allowing the Dynamo offense to get a foot on the ball.
86th Minute: Kenny Mansally rushed to head a ball out of bounds. He lost balance, and his face slid across the concrete where the turf ends.
He got up with no visible wounds.
85th Minute: As expected, the Revs are trying to capitalize on every push or shove. The Revs keep falling to the ground, hoping to waste away the clock.
82nd Minute: A little skirmish there. Benny Feilhaber went to grab a dead ball, and Houston's Bobby Boswell knocked the ball out of Benny's hands. Benny, meanwhile, was knocked to the ground.
Boswell got a caution for the play.
Meanwhile, Carlo Costly just got into it a bit with Matt Reis.
With 10 minutes left, I'm willing to stay an extra five for a sweet fight.
80th Minute: Subs: (Dynamo) Calen Carr in, Hunter Freeman out
78th Minute: Subs: (Revs) Stephen McCarthy in, Milton Caraglio out
Houston's Adam Moffat just earned a yellow card and a caution for a dirty trip on the Rev's Shalrie Joseph.
75th Minute: Subs: (Revs) Pat Phelan in, Ryan Cochrane out.
Word here in the box is suggesting that Cochrane might be hurt. He is walking gingerly off the field.
It was Cochrane's goal in the 4th minute that made the score 1-0.
72nd Minute: With the substitutions, you'd expect the big, energized Houston squad to make a rush. Instead, the Revs have kept forcing offsides and have controlled the ball in the opposition's side of the field. Should be an interesting final 20.
69th Minute: Subs: (Dynamo) Carlo Costly in, Brian Ching out
66th Minute: Almost a serious mistake by Reis. A goal kick went right to a Houston defender, who passed it up to a wide-open teammate. The play was called offsides, though.
62nd Minute: Reis made another diving save and, in the process, slammed his shoulder into the poll. He stayed down for a moment, but got up looking alright.
Caraglio got a yellow card a moment ago, and Houston's Hunter Freeman just got a yellow, as well.
60th Minute: Houston's Andre Hainault had some issues with the Revs' Kenny Mansally, and the two got in each other's faces for a moment.
Subs: (Revs) Zack Schilawski in, Chris Tierney out
Subs: (Dynamo) Alex Dixon in, Je-Vaughn Watson out
57th Minute: Feilhaber deflected a shot off his head, sending the ball flying into the air. It landed in front of the Revs net, and the ball quickly got shot. No surprise, though, Matt Reis came up with another huge save.
55th Minute: New England's Milton Caraglio had a brief breakaway and tried to push it towards a teammate, but Houston came away with it.
52nd Minute: Houston's Watson got the ball toward the right side of the Revs goal and tried to cross it to Brian Ching. Instead, a swarm of Revs defenders came and recovered it.
49th Minute: Cam Weaver managed to out-strengthen Soares to get a shot off in front of the net. Luckily for the Revs, it soared over.
47th Minute: Dynamo had a shot from about 30-feet away, but it was right at Reis.
45th Minute: As the second half is set to begin, let's check out some of the numbers from the first half.
When discussing the Revs' performance in the first half, one can view it with a glass half full or a glass half empty.
New England leads 1-0 and has forced four offsides and eight fouls. The Revs defense has constantly looked to clear the ball, and goalie Matt Reis has had a couple of incredible saves.
Meanwhile, the Revolution have been outshot 8-5, have allowed six corners and (if the stat was available) would probably be trailing in time of possession. None of those stats matter if the Revs can manage to keep it out of the back of their own net.
Second half is underway.
Halftime: Revs 1, Houston 0
The Revolution defense has looked solid so far, but they've also had to rely on goalie Matt Reis a bit too much.
The 36-year-old veteran has come up with some timely saves, literally fully extending to get to some shots.
Toward the end of the half, the powerful Houston squad seemed to be taking advantage of the smaller — but quicker — New England team. Their size difference has truly become a key of the game.
We'll be back shortly for the second half.
44th Minute: Last play was actually called offsides.
44th Minute: Cam Weaver somehow missed a wide-open net. Jermaine Taylor had a perfect pass to Weaver, who forced the ball right over the goal. Nice break for the Revs.
39th Minute: Houston's Cameron got what looked like a perfect header off a corner, but Reis again came up with the big save.
34th Minute: Revs' A.J. Soares was down for a moment, but managed to get up and continue playing.
Houston's Geoff Cameron, a URI alum and Attleboro, Mass. native, was chasing a ball toward the net with a chance to score. Reis charged, though, and got the save.
32nd Minute: Some close chances for the Dynamo. Brian Ching first had a nice shot that was cleared by the Revs, and Ching then had a nice no-look pass that set up a teammate perfectly. The ball ended up rolling out of bounds, though.
30th Minute: A Houston cross was cleared by Tierney. Good aggressiveness from the Revs. They've been battling for every possession.
25th Minute: Houston's Geoff Cameron had a great cross from the left side, placing it perfectly at the head of Watson. Matt Reis jumped up to force the ball over the net.
A moment later, Reis dove and saved an Adam Moffat bullet.
Reis is coming up big so far in this match.
21st Minute: Revs defense has looked great so far. They forced Dynamo forward Cam Weaver to an offsides call. Weaver had scored on the play and showed clear disappointment with the call.
16th Minute: After the teams switch possessions, Milton Caraglio found an open shot outside the box. He pulled the trigger, but the shot proved to be too weak. Houston keeper Hall made the grab.
12th Minute: Houston attempted a header off a corner, but Reis came up with the save.
10th Minute: Tierney tried to fool defenders on the right side of the box. He tried to get it in front of the goal, but it rolled out of bounds.
10th Minute: New England's been doing all they can to keep the ball toward the opponents end. They've continually cleared it out of their defensive end, forcing Houston to come up big on defense.
5th minute: Revs defender Kevin Alston happened to be standing toward the right side of his own goal to knock a shot away with his feet.
Had he not been there, I'm not sure Matt Reis would have had that one.
4th minute: Revs score!
A Revolution shot pulled Houston goalie Tally Hall out of the net. The ball ended up at the feet of Revs defender Ryan Cochrane, who tapped it in for the first goal of the game.
Cochrane, certainly an unlikely goal scorer, knocked in his first of the season.
2nd minute: Revs get a free kick from outside the box.
Chris Tierney had an excellent kick over the wall and out of the reach of the goalie, but it went off the post.
8:05 p.m.: The National Anthem followed by Eminem's "Lose Yourself" can only mean one things — it's game time.
The team's are preparing to take the field and the game should be starting any moment now.
7:50 p.m.: Disappointing moment here at Gillette — for me at least.
A young fan won the chances to score a goal through a small hole in one of the nets. I thought he had a good chance to make it in — but he whiffed completely. He looked fairly athletic, but the ball still rolled harmlessly past.
I also think — or thought — the Revs had a good chance to win the game tonight. Let's hope my prediction doesn't go the same way as my prediction for the young fan.
7:25 p.m. ET: We're about 30 minutes from the start of the game as the Revs meet up against familiar foe, the Houston Dynamo. The Revs faced off against Houston during the 2005 and 2006 Cup Finals.
It's fun to see familiar faces return to Gillette, and that's the case with Dynamo assistant coach Steve Ralston. Ralston holds the MLS record for career assists.
The starting lineup for the Revs sees a couple changes. After playing 79 minutes on Saturday, rookie Stephen McCarthy is not starting against Houston Wednesday. Pat Phelan, who had an assist Saturday, is also not in the starting lineup.
Without further ado, the Revs lineup:
GK Matt Reis
D Kevin Alston
D Darrius Barnes
D Ryan Cochrane
D A.J. Soares
M Zak Boggs
M Shalrie Joseph
M Benny Feilhaber
M Chris Tierney
F Kenny Mansally
F Milton Caraglio
and the subs:
GK Bobby Shuttleworth
M Diego Fagundez
M Ryan Guy
M Stephen McCarthy
M Pat Phelan
F Zack Schilawski
M Andrew Sousa
For Houston:
GK Toby Hall
D Hunter Freeman
D Bobby Boswell
D Andrew Hainault
D Jermaine Taylor
M Je-Vaughn Watson
M Adam Moffat
M Geoff Cameron
M Brad Davis
F Brian Ching
F Cam Weaver
and their subs:
GK Tyler Deric
M Corey Ashe
F Calen Carr
M Alex Dixon
F Carlo Costly
D Eddie Robinson
D Kofi Sarkodie
10 a.m. ET: It's been almost a month since the New England Revolution pulled out a victory, and a win at home Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo is sorely needed.
New England currently stands a point ahead of Chicago for last place in the Eastern Conference. The squad will be facing off against a Houston team that currently sits tied for third in the Eastern standings.
The Revs are coming off a 3-1 loss to conference-leading Columbus on Saturday. New England was leading 1-0 after a Benny Feilhaber goal right before the break, but completely fell apart in the second half. The Crew scored twice within a five minute span, pulling off the win.
I'll be blogging the game starting with the kick-off at 8:00 p.m, and check back here later for starting lineups.
