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Luciano scores two goals as D.C. United downs Revolution

Aug 6, 2007 - 12:24 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- A return to MLS action did wonders for D.C. United.

Luciano Emilio scored two goals in helping D.C. United end a four-game winless streak with Sunday's 3-0 shutout over the New England Revolution.

It was the first league game for D.C. United (8-6-3) since July 22, when they suffered 1-0 setback to the New York Red Bulls.

Making its only regular season appearance at Gillette Stadium, D.C. appeared highly motivated from the beginning.

Drawing two yellow cards in the opening 27 minutes, United kept most of the play in New England's end, eventually putting two balls past Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis in the first half.

"I think it was more of a team thing, a mentality," D.C. coach Tom Soehn said. "We worked hard as a staff to really push our guys and bring up our mentality on the road and stick to our game plan and I thought that was the big difference."

In the 22nd minute, Clyde Simms fired a shot on Reis, who had a clean look and went to the ground to collect it. But Reis failed to handle the ball and allowed it to get free just long enough for Joshua Gros to come in and put the loose ball into the net for his first goal of the season.

"(Reis) made a save but didn't have his hands on the ball and I don't think he was expecting anybody to be crashing in," Gros said. "I noticed it so I just ran in, got a toe poke and there it was."

D.C. United won for just the third time in nine tries on the road.

"Any road win for us now would be big," United midfielder Rod Dyachenko said. "We got away from the mentality we needed to have going away (from home) and we had it back. Let's be honest, they weren't as sharp as they usually are. We've got to keep it in perspective. They had a game three days ago. They looked a little tired."

A well-executed give-and-go put D.C. United ahead 2-0 in the 31st minute, when Guy-Roland Kpene slipped a pass past New England defender James Riley to an open Emilio, who found the back of the net for his 11th tally.

"There was only one team on the field and it wasn't us," Revolution captain Steve Ralston said. "We were second to every ball. We couldn't keep the ball. I can't remember a game where we played as bad as we did."

Moments later the news got worse for New England (9-4-6), as they lost starting defender Michael Parkhurst to a hyper-extended right knee. He suffered the injury when he attempted to kick the ball and missed.

The 28-year-old Emilio completed his impressive outing with his second goal in the 76th minute, finishing a breakaway chance to move into a tie with Kansas City's Eddie Johnson for the league lead at 12 goals.

"He's (Emilio) opportunistic," Soehn said. "He understands he's hard on defenders. He makes a living off scoring goals and that's why we brought him in and forwards are going to go through stretches where they get them in bundles and stretches where they don't get them. I've always said the day he wakes up through this stretch, someone's going to pay and it was New England."

D.C. netminder Troy Perkins was solid en route to registering his third shutout this season and 14th of his career.

New England, which had its five-game unbeaten streak snapped, lost just three days after an impressive 2-0 win over Kansas City.

"We started slow and then got slower," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "We were just awful. You name it and we didn't do it. We put a lot into the (Kansas City) game Thursday. I think we looked tired. We were second to every ball; we made bad decisions. Everything that could have gone wrong for us went wrong for us. We gave up bad goals."

New England lost for just the second time at home, falling to 4-2-4 here.