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Twellman sparks Revolution to 4-0 rout

Apr 15, 2007 - 4:37 AM FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Taylor Twellman already is in midseason form.

Twellman scored a pair of early first-half goals to spark the New England Revolution to a 4-0 rout of expansion Toronto FC.

The leading scorer for New England (1-1-0) in four of his five seasons with the club, Twellman removed any suspense early on, scoring twice in a span of 6:15 to give the Revolution a 2-0 lead after just 17 1/2 minutes had elapsed.

"We couldn't have asked for a better start," New England coach Steve Nicol said. "Not only did we control the game, but we made chances and put them away. It's always huge to get your nose in front and the other team has to come and leave holes."

Twellman, who scored 11 goals last year, almost had a hat trick a minute later, but his left-footed shot drifted just wide of the left goalpost.

"I should've had a third," said Twellman, who notched the 13th multi-goal game of his career. "Obviously, when you get two quick goals and you're pushing, you're going to hit a wall.

"That was just me and Stevie (Ralston) doing what we do best. I always say as long as we're creating things will go our way. It's still early."

New England, which lost its season opener to Chicago, 1-0, extended the lead to three goals when rookie Adam Cristman was dragged down by Paulo Nagamura in the 59th minute.

Shalrie Joseph took the penalty kick and easily beat Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton, punching a shot into the right corner of the net. It was the fourth straight penalty kick converted by Joseph dating to the 2005 season.

Andy Dorman finished off the scoring in the 72nd minute, notching the 500th goal in franchise history. Steve Ralston had an assist on the tally, his second of the match.

Cristman earned his first professional point with an assist on Twellman's first goal.

"The ball came across, I just tipped it across and Taylor finished it," Cristman said.

Matt Reis made six saves to record the shutout for the Revolution.

"Even though we lost in Chicago, I think there were a lot of positives that we took away from the game," Reis said. "We were a little snakebitten not to get a result there. We just came out tonight and did the same things we did in Chicago, and this time we got the goals and we got the result."

Toronto FC fell to 0-2-0 in its inaugural season.

"We can compete. Tonight, I wouldn't say it was about competing, it was about that we were just outplayed on numerous occasions," Toronto coach Mo Johnston said. "We never gave our goalkeeper a chance. We got four goals scored against us. The last two were mistakes schoolboys would not have made."