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Twellman sends Revolution into Eastern Conference final

Nov 4, 2007 - 1:48 AM FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Taylor Twellman scored the only goal to give the New England Revolution a 1-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls in an MLS Eastern Conference semifinal matchup Saturday night.

Steve Ralston fed Taylor Twellman in the 64th minute and his soft short from the left side deflected off the hand of a diving goalkeeper Jon Conway and into the right side of the net.

The victory sends the Revolution (14-8-8) into the Eastern Conference Championship against the Chicago Fire here on Thursday night.

"We played well in the first half and didn't panic in the second half when things weren't going well," New England coach Steve Nicol said. "We didn't get frustrated, we just kept battling away and I think that's due to the experience that we have. ... Hopefully we can take that experience into next week."

New England and New York had played more than 2 1/2 hours of scoreless soccer over two games before Shalrie Joseph sent a through ball to Ralston, who set up Twellman for the decisive goal.

The Red Bulls had only 10 men on the field at the time, after star forward Juan Pablo Angel suffered a concussion during a collision with New England's Jay Heaps.

"It was a scary moment, because I went up for a header and I didn't know what happened next," Heaps said. "I felt his chin on my knee. ... I knew right when it happened that he was in some trouble.

"I feel awful that he couldn't return but thats the way we go up and challenge. I wanted to win the head ball and there was no intent at all."

New York coach Bruce Arena had decided that Angel could not continue and was trying to substitute John Wolyniec when Twellman scored.

"It was a medical decision," Arena said. "He wanted to stay in but we wouldn't allow him."

The teams had played to a 0-0 tie in the first leg last Saturday at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The first half of Saturday's match continued the trend set in Game One, as neither team was able to capitalize on their scoring chances.

The best first-half goal opportunity for New York came in the 38th minute, when Clint Mathis took a centering pass and blasted it wide right. Mathis entered the game 11 minutes earlier when Red Bulls captain Claudio Reyna left the game with a left hamstring injury.

New England's best scoring chances in the opening included a pair of shots that went wide left - off Steve Ralston's foot in the 10th minute and Jeff Larentowicz's in the 22nd. The Revs' best opportunity came in the 40th minute, when Larentowicz fed Wells Thompson, who drilled a shot off the hands of a diving Conway.

"Considering the wind and the conditions, I thought in the first half we did some great stuff," Nicol said. We made some opportunities, we got the ball wide, we got the ball in the box, we got it behind them. We just couldn't finish anything off.

"The second half was scrappy. I don't think we played the way we did the first half, but we got the goal, which is what we didn't do in the first half. We're not complaining, we'll take any win in the playoffs."

The second half was highlighted by the play of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, who made some big saves to hold the lead. New York was unable to capitalize on any of its 12 corner kicks in the game.

"Thats what I'm there to do, nothing out of the ordinary, not too spectacular, just helping my defenders out and gobbling up what I can," Reis said.