On Saturday at Gillette Stadium the New England Revolution II took on Union Omaha in a USL League One matchup. New England in it’s inaugural USL League One match came away with one point in a 0-0 draw in front of an empty home venue.
“I thought it was obviously good to get out and play someone new in a real competitive match that meant something,” said Revolution II Head Coach Clint Peay on the match. ” It was a difficult match, [Omaha] was a strong opponent in terms of fighting for every play and making it difficult to break them down. I’m proud of the guys, I thought they battled well and showed some good character in terms of dealing with what was thrown their way with how the other team played which was pretty direct. A lot of set pieces they had to face so I thought they did well there.”
Pitching the shutout was goalkeeper Joe Rice who was flawless making five saves on the night. Rice is actually one of the lone USL League One veterans on Revs II having played for the Richmond Kickers last season after graduating from VCU. In front of Rice helping the shutout come into fruition was defender Colin Verfurth who had a game-high eight clearances and also paced the match with 60 passes attempted. Verfruth signed a contract with the first team recently and is with Revs II to gain critical minutes.
“Starting with a new team, obviously you need to take more time to get comfortable with the guys on the pitch, especially with an inaugural season with Revolution II and having a lot of pro debuts, we had about eight or nine professional debuts today so their first time playing in a professional atmosphere but all those being said, I thought we played real well,” said Colin Verfurth on his Revs II debut. “Took a lot of positives from the game and I think we have a lot of stuff we can work on and move forward with.”
Revs II did have their fair share of chances down the stretch and very much like the first team they were unable to bury the ball in the back of the net.
Revolution II will be out of action next week and will return on August 7th with a home match against Orlando City B at 7 p.m. If you watched the ESPN+ broadcast and were disappointed in the quality I hate to break it to you but every match this season will be on ESPN+ barring any drastic broadcast shift by the club or the league.
