The New England Revolution defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-0 in the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup on Saturday at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The victory means that the Revs' unbeaten preseason (5-0-0) continues. The Revolution were led by sparkling performances from rookie midfielder Kelyn Rowe and veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis. Rowe scored both goals (77th minute, 84th minute) and Reis kept his first clean sheet of the preseason while playing the whole match. Rowe has four goals and four assists on the preseason and has recorded at least one goal or assist in each match.
After the match, Revs head coach Jay Heaps glowed about Rowe.
The one thing about Kelyn (Rowe) is he's a gamer. Every week, or every day, I love working with him. He just wants to get better. He's one of the guys who just loves the game and I think it shows. But his goals were very good. The first one was Saer (Sène) keeping it alive and Kelyn just being in an advanced position. He has a sense for that - as a right midfielder, he's inside the six for that ball for the goal. The second one, I'd like to say I've seen him do that a couple of times. He's got a very good left foot ... (via New England Revolution)
The Revolution are the only unbeaten team in the tournament. New England defeated the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy, 3-2, in the first match on Feb. 22. The Galaxy are 1-1-0 in the competition. Real Salt Lake, the Revs' next opponent on Feb. 29, is 1-1-0. The Red Bulls are 0-2-0.
For more coverage of the Revolution, visit our team page or our blog The Bent Musket.