Recharged Revolution Beats Galaxy
Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz may be Major League Soccer’s leading goal scorer, but no player is on a streak quite like New England’s Taylor Twellmen.
Twellmen scored in his sixth consecutive game and the Revolution also picked up key contributions from new acquisitions Diego Serna and Daniel Hernandez in a 3-2 victory over the Galaxy in front of 15,146 at CMGI Field in Foxboro, Mass., on Saturday.
Twellman, 22, became the sixth player in MLS history to score in six games in a row. The league record is seven, held by Twellman’s teammate Wolde Harris and D.C. United’s Raul Diaz Arce.
Ruiz did score his league-leading eighth goal in the 90th minute, volleying in a Tyrone Marshall cross, but the game had been decided at that point.
“The way we played tonight was not Galaxy soccer and it is not the kind of soccer that we are capable of playing,” said Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, whose team was playing its fourth consecutive road game and fell to 4-3-2.
After Twellman’s goal in the 11th minute, the Galaxy tied it at 1-1 when Winston Griffiths scored his first MLS goal in the 36th minute. Griffiths took a midfield pass from Jesus Ochoa before cutting in from the left wing to blast a shot that deflected into the net off goalkeeper Juergen Sommer’s hands.
New England (3-4-1) took a 2-1 lead when Steve Ralston scored six minutes into the second half. Ralston redirected a free kick by Hernandez, who joined the Revolution on Friday with Serna and Brian Kamler after a six-player trade with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
The game also was the first for interim coach Steve Nicol, who replaced the fired Fernando Clavijo on Thursday.
Serna entered the game in the 64th minute and scored his first goal for New England 12 minutes later on a give-and-go with Jim Rooney, chipping a shot over Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis.
The Galaxy finishes its five-game road trip Saturday at Denver against the Colorado Rapids. Los Angeles won the first two games against Kansas City and Chicago before losing two in a row.
“We have one more road trip and can still finish this five-game stretch with an above .500 record,” Schmid said. “So the final road match against Colorado now becomes that much more important.”
Jim Barrero
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In other MLS games:
Columbus 1, Dallas 1--Chad Deering scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time as the Burn (3-2-4) tied the Crew (3-4-2) in front of 13,773 at Columbus, Ohio, in a game delayed by an injury and lightning.
Columbus opened the scoring in the 66th minute on a goal by Jeff Cunningham, his fourth of the season.
Burn defender Ryan Suarez went down with a back injury midway through the second half after a collision with Edson Buddle. The delay added 10 minutes of stoppage time. The game was then delayed for 46 minutes after the first overtime because of lightning.
New York/New Jersey 1, Kansas City 1--Mamadou Diallo, traded to the MetroStars (3-5-2) on Friday in the six-player deal with New England, scored a goal in the tie in front of 18,401 at East Rutherford, N.J.
Chris Klein scored his third goal of the season to give the Wizards (2-3-3) the early lead.
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In WUSA games:
New York 2, San Diego 1--Emily Janss and Linda Ormen scored goals off assists from Tiffeny Milbrett as the Power (2-4-1) defeated the Spirit (2-3-2) in front of 4,689 at Uniondale, N.Y., to end a five-game winless streak. Lori Lindsey scored for San Diego.
Philadelphia 3, Carolina 1--Marinette Pichon had two goals and Kelly Smith broke a tie on a penalty kick as the Charge (5-1-0) defeated the Courage (3-1-2) in front of 5,281 at Cary, N.C. Danielle Slaton scored her first WUSA goal for Carolina.
Atlanta 1, Boston 0--U.S. national team forward Cindy Parlow, playing with a broken nose, scored in the 10th minute to lead the Beat (3-3-1) over the Breakers (2-3-2) in front of 4,917 at Atlanta. Parlow scored when she headed Nikki Serlenga’s free kick
