Djordje Petrovic made five saves for his sixth shutout of the season and the visiting New England Revolution settled for a 0-0 tie with New York City FC on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
New England (7-3-6, 27 points) saw its winless skid reach five games (0-2-3) but showed significant defensive improvement after allowing nine total goals over the previous three games.
Petrovic stopped Gabriel Pereira three times and Santiago Rodriguez twice. He prevented New England from conceding the winning goal late in stoppage time by snagging Rodriguez’s right footed shot from the center of the box.
After Petrovic’s final save, New England almost scored toward the end of the seven-minute stoppage time, but Emmanuel Boateng’s left-footed try from the left side was blocked. Boateng’s near miss occurred after Dave Romney and Matt Polster missed the net in a one-minute span shortly before stoppage time.
Luis Barraza made two saves as he returned to goal after Matt Freese made his debut in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to FC Cincinnati. But NYCFC (4-7-5, 17 points) saw its winless skid reach seven games (0-5-2). It was Barraza’s second shutout of the season.
NYCFC avoided another loss despite playing the final few minutes with 10 men when Braian Cufre received a red card for running into DeJuan Jones near midfield. The call was reviewed and upheld.
NYCFC attempted nine shots in a competitive opening half but only two were on target. In the 18th minute, Petrovic denied Pereira’s left-footed try from outside the box and then made a leaping save on Pereira in the 23rd minute.
Petrovic’s second save on Pereira occurred moments after New England scored but Bobby Wood’s goal was disallowed after he was ruled offsides.
NYCFC nearly scored in the 34th minute but Richard Ledezma’s right-footed try from outside the box clanged off the right post.
–Field Level Media
