FOXBOROUGH, MA – Orlando City SC (8-9-6, 30 points) secured 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. It was the Lions’ first-ever victory at New England.
Facundo Torres scored his second brace of the regular season to seal the win, his third across all competitions.
In the 23rd minute, 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.
Facundo Torres answered early in the second half with the help of Ivan Angulo. In the 51st minute, Wilder Cartagena, Angulo, and Rafael Santos made some connections on the left wing, with Angulo getting loose behind the defense. Ivan tapped a ball through the defense’s feet, finding Torres, who fired the ball into the far left corner.
Eight minutes later, Ramiro Enrique took a César Araújo header off the ground and crashed the net, beating a Revolution defender for a touch-in goal.
Late in the match, in the 81st minute, Torres secured the brace with an assist from Luis Muriel out on the right wing. Torres sent in a curling, left-footed shot into the far side for the 3-1 score.
“Very excited with the three points,” said Lions Head Coach Oscar Pareja. “Very proud of the character of the team and the players that brought us back after an irregular first half. I thought in the first half we conceded a lot of freedom to 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 achieve that.”
Torres scored his 10th and 11th goals for the year 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.
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.
The Lions will head to Tennessee to take on Nashville SC on Wednesday, July 17, at GEODIS Park. That match will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
