Keaton Parks scored on a header in the 81st minute and surging New York City FC extended their winning streak to four matches with a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
NYCFC (8-5-2, 26 points) improved to 8-2-2 since a season-opening three-match losing streak. New York is 7-1-0 in its past eight matches, beating New England twice during that span.
Justin Haak moved the ball to Malachi Jones, and Jones was given plenty of room by a New England defender to send a booming pass through traffic.
Parks leapt over the scrum in the center of the box and punched in his second goal of the season before Revolution defender Nick Lima could prevent the shot.
Matt Freese made seven saves for his third shutout of the season to help NYCFC overcome getting outplayed for large portions of the match. Freese highlighted his win with a diving save on Giacomo Vrioni’s redirection in the 46th minute and was savvy enough to deflect the ball out of bounds to stop Dylan Borrero from getting a tap-in into the empty net.
After Parks’ goal, Freese stopped Esmir Bajraktarevic in the final seconds of second-half stoppage time. Before the tally, Freese also denied Bajraktarevic in the 57th and 58th minutes before denying Borrero in the 67th following a corner kick.
New England goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic made three saves.
New England (2-10-1, seven points) dropped to 1-6-0 in its past seven matches and took its fifth shutout loss of the season.
New York had some good looks early, but New England blocked two attempts by Kevin O’Toole in the third minute. In the 23rd, Mounsef Bakrar raced in on a break and had his attempt sail over the bar.
Four minutes after Bakrar’s close call, Freese stopped Vrioni, and Borrero’s rebound try with his right foot sailed wide left. New York was handed a pair of yellow cards late in the first half.
–Field Level Media
