On a night where lightning delayed yet another New England Revolution U.S. Open Cup match, it was the first professional strike of a homegrown midfielder that proved the difference.
Zachary Herivaux's blast in the first half of extra time was the decider in a 1-0 win in Cary, North Carolina as the Revs defeated the NASL's Carolina Railhawks in the 4th Round of USOC play.
The match began around 730 in the evening but had to be stopped just nine minutes it as a major storm swept through the area, delaying the match for over two hours. When play resumed closer to 10pm after a warm up, it was a nervy first half as both teams seemed unable to generate good chances. Revs keeper Brad Knighton had several interesting moments as the Railhawks were able to send in crosses that gave the backline and the goalie difficulty.
It wasn't until the second half that New England finally started getting good chances. Substitutes Lee Nguyen and Kei Kamara certainly helped as did Chris Tierney who came on for the injured Donnie Smith, but the Revs were unable to find a breakthrough as Kamara and Juan Agudelo each put solid headers off target. The two sides remained scoreless through ninety minutes and extra time and penalties loomed.
Right from the start of extra time the Revolution put their play into high gear, with Tierney sending a free kick in the 93rd minute off the crossbar. With New England pressuring deep into the Carolina third, Diego Fagundez was denied a shot on target when his effort was blocked.
But in the 103rd minute, a nifty combination from Scott Caldwell and Nguyen found Herivaux at the top of the box and with no one stepping up to him, the 20 year old ripped a shot over Railhawks keeper Akira Fitzgerald for the only goal of the match.
And here’s the game-winning goal from @ZHerivaux100 #USOC2016 #NERevshttps://t.co/kxFzuFlqza
— NewEnglandRevolution (@NERevolution) June 16, 2016
The Revs pressed for a second goal but Carolina would force a hectic finish. Alex Perez would have two stellar shots denied by Brad Knighton in the dying minutes, the first in the 117th when he settled a deflected ball off the referee, turned and shot, forcing Knighton into a brilliant reaction save to get the ball over the top.
Then in the 120th minute, on the last play of the game, Perez latched onto a Simon Mensing cross but put his powerful open header straight into the arms of Knighton for the NC native's 5th and final save of the day at the near post. The whistle would go for full time and the Revolution would survive and advance to the 5th round of the US Open Cup.
New England will learn their next USOC opponent in a draw done by US Soccer later today and will likely be in a regional pod with Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls and the NY Cosmos who upset NYC FC earlier today. The Revs return to MLS play this Saturday in Vancouver.