CINCINNATI, Ohio (June 22, 2024) – The New England Revolution (6-10-1; 19 pts.) extended their winning streak to four consecutive matches with a 2-1 victory at FC Cincinnati (12-4-3; 39 pts.) on the road at TQL Stadium on Saturday night. Forward Giacomo Vrioni netted both goals to raise his tally to five goals on the league campaign, while midfielder Carles Gil, making his 150^th MLS appearance, tallied two assists in the victory.

New England opened the match on the front foot and Vrioni rewarded the early onslaught when he found the back of the net in the 21^st minute. Gil found the Albanian near the top of the penalty area and the 25-year-old capitalized with a left-footed strike past a diving Roman Celentano. Vrioni, who also drew a team-high five fouls on the night, then completed his brace in the 41^st minute by converting a header, assisted by Emmanuel Boateng and Gil. Vrioni’s fourth multi-goal game for New England in all competitions gave the Revolution multiple first-half goals for the second straight game.

With his 11^th career multi-assist game, and his first of the 2024 campaign, Gil has now set up a goal in four consecutive games for the third time in his Revolution career. Through a player’s first 150 MLS games, the 31-year-old Spaniard ranks fourth all-time with 69 assists and tied for second with 25 game-winning helpers.

FC Cincinnati cut into New England’s lead in the 65^th minute, with Yamil Asad converting on Luciano Acosta’s assist from a corner kick. Four minutes later, the hosts were limited to 10 men when a second yellow card was issued to Obinna Nwobodo. Head Coach Caleb Porter, who improved to 98-13-33 (.795) in his career when his teams score first, deployed multiple substitutions to close out the match, including the long-awaited return of defender Brandon Bye, who came off the bench in the 88^th minute for his first action since suffering an ACL tear last August.

Aljaž Ivačič bolstered the back end for New England, making three saves to improve to 5-3-0 on the season as the Revolution limited a Cincinnati side, which had tallied four goals in back-to-back games entering tonight, to only four shots on target. Ivačič was protected by a defensive line including Dave Romey and Xavier Arreaga in central defense, and DeJuan Jones and Nick Lima on the wings, all of whom went the full 90 minutes in the win.

New England will look to extend its winning run to five games next weekend when the Revolution return home to face the Columbus Crew on Saturday, June 29. The Revolution’s annual Pride Night match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium, free to watch on the Apple TV app in English and Spanish. Listen to the Revolution’s local radio calls on 98.5 The Sports Hub (WBZ-FM), with Brad Feldman and Charlie Davies, and on 1260 AM “Nossa Radio USA” in Portuguese.

TEAM NOTES

• New England’s four-game winning streak is the team’s first since August 2021.
• The Revolution are the only Eastern Conference team never to lose on the road to FC Cincinnati as they improve to 5-2-3 in the all-time series, 4-0-1 on the road.
• New England improved to 6-0-1 this season when scoring the first goal, while Head Coach Caleb Porter boasts a .795 winning percentage when his team tallies first.
• The Revolution are unbeaten, 9-0-3, over their last 12 matches in the month of June, dating back to the 2021 season.
• With tonight’s victory, the Revolution jumped three places in the Eastern Conference standings and now sit only two points below the playoff line, with two games in hand on the teams above.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Giacomo Vrioni tallied a brace in tonight’s victory, the 25-year-old striker’s second two-goal performance in MLS (fourth overall with New England). Vrioni now owns five goals on the season, tied with Carles Gil for the team lead.
• Vrioni has scored in consecutive matches for the first time in his MLS career. The Albanian forward has tallied four goals and one assist over last seven games played.
• Carles Gil recorded his first two-assist performance of 2024 in his 150^th MLS appearance, giving him six helpers on the season.
• Gil has now registered an assist in four consecutive games for the third time in his MLS career. The 2021 MLS MVP owns two goals and six assists in his last nine games played.
• Gil ranks among the top players in MLS history in game-winning assists (T-2^nd- 25), assists (4^th- 69), and multi-assist games (T-6^th- 11) through a player’s first 150 league appearances.
• Gil’s 69 assists are four shy of matching Steve Ralston (73) for New England’s all-time club record.
• Xavier Arreaga suited up for his ninth straight start since joining New England in April and surpassed 8,000 career minutes played in MLS.
• Emmanuel Boateng logged his second assist of the season on Vrioni’s game-winning goal in the 41^st minute. Boateng, who played 81 minutes in his third start of the 2024 campaign, has found the scoresheet in two of his last three appearances with one goal and one assist.
• Brandon Bye appeared off the bench tonight, marking the defender’s first performance since suffering a knee injury in August 2023.
• Caleb Porter improves his career record against FC Cincinnati to 6-2-4.

GAME CAPSULE
New England Revolution 2 vs. FC Cincinnati 1
June 22, 2024 – TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Referee: Jon Freemon
Assistant Referee: Jeremy Kieso (AR1), Eric Weisbrod (AR2)
Fourth Official: Joshua Encarnacion
Video Assistant Referee: Shawn Tehini
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jozef Batko
Weather: 89 degrees
Attendance: 25,513

Scoring Summary:
NE- Giacomo Vrioni 4 (Carles Gil 5) 21’
NE- Giacomo Vrioni 5 (Emmanuel Boateng 2, Carles Gil 6) 41’
CIN- Yamil Asad 1 (Luciano Acosta 16) 65’

Misconduct Summary:
CIN- Obinna Nwobodo (Yellow Card- Hard Foul) 34’
CIN- Alvas Powell (Yellow Card- Hard Foul) 45+3’
CIN- Yuya Kubo (Yellow Card- Hard Foul) 50’
CIN- DeAndre Yedlin (Yellow Card- Dissent) 54’
NE- Caleb Porter (Yellow Card- Dissent) 68’
CIN- Obinna Nwobodo (Red Card- Hard Foul) 69’
NE- Giacomo Vrioni (Yellow Card-Hard Foul) 81’

New England Revolution: Aljaž Ivačič; DeJuan Jones, Xavier Arreaga, Dave Romney, Nick Lima; Matt Polster, Ian Harkes (Noel Buck 68’); Emmanuel Boateng (Jonathan Mensah 81’), Carles Gil © (Brandon Bye 88’), Esmir Bajraktarević, Giacomo Vrioni

Substitutes Not Used: Earl Edwards Jr., Andrew Farrell, Henry Kessler, Jack Panayotou

FC Cincinnati: Roman Celentano; Alvas Powell (Nick Hagglund 46’), Luca Orellano, Yamil Asad (Bret Halsey 75’), Ian Murphy (Aaron Boupendza 88’), DeAndre Yedlin; Obinna Nwobodo, Luciano Acosta ©, Pavel Bucha; Kevin Kesly (Sergio Santos 46’), Gerardo Valenzuela (Yuya Kubo 46’)

Substitutes Not Used: Alec Kann, Isaiah Foster, Kipp Keller, Mark Pinto