A Look Back At A Dozen Memorable Revolution Home Openers
FOXBORO (CBS) -- Soccer returns to New England on Saturday, as the Revolution will welcome FC Dallas to Gillette Stadium for their home opener. After suffering a playoff loss the last time they played in front of their supporters, the Revs are eager to give them a much better showing this weekend.
The Revolution started the campaign with a 2-2 draw in Portland last weekend, letting a pair of leads slip away, and will now look to notch their first victory of the season on their home pitch. Last year, the Revs notched a 1-0 win over DC United for the club's first home-opener win in two years. They went on to go 12-2-3 at Gillette Stadium en route to the club's first Supporters' Shield.
There is just something special about a home opener in any sport, and the Revs have been pretty darn good in them, going 16-5-5 overall in openers heading into Saturday's action. Revolution supporters have been treated to some thrilling matches to kick off the year, and here's a look back at a dozen of those matches.
3/10/18 -- Revs 2, Rapids 1
The Revs won thanks to a game-winning tally from Chris Tierney in stoppage time, when the defender beat Tim Howard on a free kick in the 93rd minute. Diego Fagundez scored New England's first goal, while Matt Turner earned the first win of his MLS career, highlighted by a save on a penalty kick in the 60th minute.
3/25/17 -- Revs 5, Minnesota United FC 2
After starting the 2017 season 0-2 on the road, the Revs exploded in their return to Gillette. New England torched Minnesota for four first-half goals en route to a 5-2 victory.
Juan Agudelo tallied a pair of goals, while Kei Kamara, Lee Nguyen and Tierney (who delivered a passionate pre-game speech to the team) also found the back of the net. Fagundez did a whole lot of everything and finished the game with a pair of assists. Tierney, Nguyen, Fagundez, Agudelo and Kamara all earned spots on the Team of the Week for their efforts in the club's home opener, as did head coach Jay Heaps.
This was especially big after the Revs played to 0-0 draws in their four previous home openers.
3/24/12 - Revs 1, Portland Timbers 0
It's hard to match Saer Sene's debut. The native of France scored his first MLS goal on his first shot in the first minute of play of his debut. Pretty solid.
Sene scored the only goal of the match 28 seconds in, heading home a Tierney cross. It was also New England's first goal of the season after the team was shut out in their first two matches.
3/26/11 -- Revs 2, DC United 1
How about some controversy? New England's two goals in their 2011 home opener left the DC United mighty miffed, as they were the difference in the match. Zach Schilawski took a long feed from Shalrie Joseph that appeared to hit his left hand. Schilawski's first shot was blocked, but he then hammered home the rebound to give New England a 1-0 lead.
The Revs' second goal came on a Joseph penalty kick. Future Revolution Charlie Davies made it interesting with a late penalty kick of his own for DC United, but the Revs held on after DC lost a defender to a red card.
4/10/10 -- Revs 4, Toronto 1
The Revs trailed their 2010 home opener 1-0 at halftime. They then exploded for four goals over a 19-minute stretch in the second half, including a 12-minute hat trick by then-rookie Schilawski. It was only the third hat trick by a rookie in MLS history.
3/29/08 -- Revs 3, Houston Dynamo 0
For the first time in franchise history the Revs hosted a season-opening match at home, kicking off the 2008 campaign with a rematch of the previous two MLS Cup championship matches.
The Revolution earned a 3-0 victory over the Dynamo thanks to goals by Steve Ralston, Adam Cristman and Sainey Nyassi to kick off 2008.
4/10/07 -- Revs 4, Toronto FC 1
Taylor Twellman scored a pair of first-half goals, finishing a Cristman cross in the 12th minute before heading home a Ralston cross six minutes later. Joseph and Andy Dorman also scored for the Revs in the big win.
4/9/05 -- Revs 3, Columbus Crew 0
Clint Dempsey put in a header off a Jay Heaps cross in the 64th minute while Pat Noonan and Dorman added tallies to give New England its first win of the 2005 season. The club was unbeaten in their first 11 games, and advanced to the MLS Cup Final at the end of the season.
5/11/02 -- Revs 2, Dallas Burn 0
After their actual home opener was postponed due to the weather, the Revs had to wait until May for their home opener. They opened the home portion of the 2002 season with a 2-0 win over Dallas thanks to a pair of goals by Twellman.
4/15/00 -- Revs 2, DC United 1 (OT)
The Revolution scored an overtime win over DC in their 2000 home opener thanks to a pair of goals by Imad Baba, including the winner in the 97th minute.
4/20/97 -- Revs 2, Tampa Bay Mutiny 1
Fans were really feeling New England soccer heading into the Revolution's second season, with 57,407 filling Foxborough Stadium for the team's second home opener.
They saw a good one, too. Darren Sawatzky unbroke a 1-1 tie in the 77th minute to give the Revs the win, which was a nice way to avenge the club's 4-1 loss in Tampa two weeks prior.
4/27/96 -- Revs 2, DC United 1 (SO)
In the club's first ever home game, the Revs earned a thrilling 2-1 shootout win in front of a whole bunch of fans at Foxborough Stadium.
Geoff Aunger scored the equalizer for the Revolution in the 80th minute of regulation, and Sawatzky put home the deciding tally in the shootout to give New England its first-ever home win. The Revs earned the victory in front of 32,864, which was about 3,000 more fans than the Red Sox drew that evening.
Tune in to Revolution-FC Dallas on TV38 Saturday afternoon, with pregame coverage beginning at 1 p.m. with "Revolution Kickoff"!
