FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (July 13, 2024) – Orlando City SC (8-9-6, 30 points) picked up its third-straight victory, using three goals in the second half to defeat host New England Revolution (7-13-1, 22 points) 3-1 on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. The victory marked the Lions’ first-ever win in Foxborough, with Facundo Torres recording his second brace of the regular season and third across all competitions.
With the win, the Lions have now scored 18 goals across their last six matches, an offensive outburst after totaling 17 goals in their first 17 regular season matches this year.
Four different players earned assists on Orlando’s tallies on the evening, while defenders Rodrigo Schlegel and Kyle Smith both made their 100th all-time starts for the Lions in the match.
City will head back out on the road at the midweek for a matchup with Nashville SC at GEODIS Park on Wednesday, July 17. That match will air on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. ET.
Scoring Summary:
23’ Giacomo Vrioni (DeJuan Jones, Esmir Bajraktarevic) – NE 1, ORL 0
The hosts got things started just over 20 minutes into the match when Esmir Bajraktarevic sent a cross to the far post for DeJuan Jones. Jones got his head on the ball and sent it back to the center of the box for Giacomo Vrioni who finished off the play.
51’ Facundo Torres (Iván Angulo) – ORL 1, NE 1
The Lions got one back just after the start of the second half when Wilder Cartagena, Iván Angulo and Rafael Santos connected down the left wing for some quick passing in tight spaces before springing Angulo in behind the defense. The Colombian toe-poked the ball through the defense and the ball found its way to the feet of Facundo Torres. Torres fired the ball into the far-left corner of the net for the equalizer.
59’ Ramiro Enrique (César Araújo, Martín Ojeda) – ORL 2, NE 1
Just eight minutes later the Lions were able to get one more and take the lead off a set-piece opportunity. Martín Ojeda stepped up for the corner kick, sending it to the far post for César Araújo who headed the ball into the turf and back in front of goal. Ramiro Enrique crashed the net, beating the New England defender to the ball for the quick touch-in goal.
81’ Facundo Torres (Luis Muriel) – ORL 3, NE 1
The Lions made it a two-goal advantage with Torres scoring his second of the evening, off an assist from second-half substitute Luis Muriel. The play started with César Araújo getting a foot on a headed clearance from the New England defense, with his one-touch going straight to Muriel in the middle of the park. The forward was unselfish on the play, finding Torres out to the right who used one left-footed touch to curl a bending shot into the far side netting for the brace.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“Very excited with the three points, very proud of the character of the team and the players that brought us back after an irregular first half. The second half, it was what we wanted and the reaction was outstanding from the players. It seems like our confidence keeps raising and finding the net is helping us to believe that this is the team who can keep that rhythm and get into the playoffs. The game? I thought in the first half we conceded a lot of freedom for New England players and the first goal is something that we need to correct. After that, we had a lot of reaction, not too much [time needed] to tie the game. In the break we decided just to push our lines way higher and just bring more stamina for those actions and dueling, passing and landing in the box. And I see that team that we have seen in the last two games. A team with more chemistry, but at the same time, with more passion and more energy that allowed us to dominate the game and score our goals. This is the first time that the team [has won] here in New England and that means a lot of respect for the players to that achieve that.”
Match Notes:
- Facundo Torres scored his 10th and 11th goals of the year across all competitions, serving as his 37th and 38th across all competitions.
- Ramiro Enrique tallied his third goal of 2024 across all competitions and his seventh all-time. The forward’s goal was his second in as many games, scoring in the Club’s last match against D.C. United.
- Forward Iván Angulo provided his seventh assist across all competitions this season and his 18th all-time, while Muriel’s was the fourth of his 2024 campaign.
- Midfielders César Araújo and Martín Ojeda provided their first and seventh assists of the 2024 campaign across all competitions respectively on the Enrique tally.
- With a secondary assist on Enrique’s goal, Martín Ojeda has now recorded a goal contribution in each of his last four starts.
- Defenders Rodrigo Schlegel and Kyle Smith both made their 100th all-time starts in the match for the Lions. Schlegel joined Orlando City in 2020, while Smith arrived in the City Beautiful in 2019.
- Orlando City has now totaled 18 goals over their last six matches after starting the season with 17 goals over the first 17 games.
- The win marked the Lions’ first victory while on the road at New England.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made one change to his starting lineup from his side’s last match against D.C. United, with Ramiro Enrique returning to the Starting XI.
