FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -
Brad Knighton made three saves en route to his first shutout of the season as the New England Revolution reserves earned a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Crew reserves on Sunday morning under steady rain at Gillette Stadium.
Revolution guest player Nick Tornaritis scored the game-winning goal in the 76th minute, beating Columbus goalkeeper Kenny Schoeni to a clearance and poking it past him for the 1-0 lead.
The Revolution improved to 2-5-2 (8 pts.) with the win in the reserve season, while Columbus fell to 3-4-2 (11 pts.) following the loss.
The teams traded chances in the early minutes, with Crew forward Steven Lenhart's move inside snuffed by Knighton in the 15th minute. Two minutes later, Shoeni stopped Revolution forward Kheli Dube's attempt from 18 yards.
Lenhart had another close chance in the 55th minute, sending a blast from just inside the area wide right.
Columbus forward Jason Garey had four prime scoring chances in the game. In the 24th minute, his chip over Knighton was just high of the crossbar, while three minutes later in the 27th, his cutback move near the right post was deflected by Revolution defender Amaechi Igwe and then saved by Knigton. Late in the game, Gary had two more chances, a pair of glancing headers in the 75th and 85th minutes, but both shots were narrowly high of frame.
The Revolution reserves return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 30, when they travel to face the Toronto FC reserves at 10 a.m. at MBO Field. The Crew reserves next see action on Sunday, Oct. 12, when they travel to place the Chicago Fire reserves at 10 a.m.
Columbus Crew Reserves at New England Revolution Reserves
September 28, 2008 -Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)
Scoring Summary:
NE - Nick Tornaritis (unassisted) 76
New England Reserves: Brad Knighton, Amaechi Igwe, Sam Brill, Rob Valentino ©, Geoff Walker* (Matt Handy* 77), Chris Tierney, Pat Phelan (Brandon Tyler 46), Gary Flood (Steve Pagnotta* 62), Wells Thompson (Tom Day* 72), Kheli Dube (Nick Tornaritis* 59), Joe Germanese (Brandon Manzonelli 46)
Columbus Reserves: Kenny Schoeni, Jed Zayner, Ezra Hendrickson, Andy Iro (Eric Brunner* 46), Andrew Peterson, George Josten (Brian Plotkin 67), Duncan Oughton ©, Stanley Nyazamba, Emmanuel Ekpo (Cory Elenio 62), Steven Lenhart (Ricardo Pierre-Louis 62), Jason Garey
Misconduct Summary:
NE - Geoff Walker (caution) 8
NE - Amaechi Igwe (caution) 91+
Referee: Michael Rugnetta
Assistant Referees: Alp Gulden (SAR), Daniel Hristov (JAR)
Fourth Official: Douglass Coutts
Weather: Rain, 68 degrees
* - Guest Player