Recap: Richmond Opens Season with Three Goal Victory at New England

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — (Saturday, April 17, 2020) — The Richmond Kickers (1-0-0) opened the 2021 USL League One season with a 3-0 victory on the road at New England Revolution II (1-1-0) Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. Jonathan Bolanos and Juan Pablo Monticelli gave the Kickers the two-goal lead heading into halftime. Late in the match, Oalex Anderson scored the third goal for Richmond. 

11 minutes into the match, Richmond found their first look at goal. Ian Antley chipped in a cross towards the back post. Hernan Gonzalez was there for the header as his shot was stopped by the New England keeper. 

Four minutes later, Emiliano Terzaghi came close to opening his account for the 2021 season. Zaca Moran floated the ball into the box finding Jalen Crisler. The center back squared the ball for Terzaghi, who calmly controlled, turned, and put his shot on frame only being denied by Edwards in goal for the Revs. 

Jonathan Bolanos looked to create a chance for Richmond in the 19th minute. Victor Falck fed the ball to Bolanos on the wing. Getting by two defenders to get to the end line, Bolanos whipped in a cross looking for Gonzalez as Edwards came off his line to punch it away. 

Richmond would score their opening goal of the season in the 35 minute from Bolanos. Falck found Gonzalez at the top of the box. As the Argentine was controlling the ball, Bolanos came in with an overlapping run to get control of the ball and lofted it into the back of the net over a defender and the keeper for the opener. 

Juan Pablo Monticelli scored on his Kickers debut as he doubled the lead for Richmond just before halftime. Bolanos served in a corner kick. Edwards came out to punch the ball away from Gonzalez. The ball fell to the feet of Monticelli, who was crashing the goal and made no mistake to find the back of the net. 

Oalex Anderson continued how he finished last season, scoring his first goal of the season in the third minute of second-half stoppage time. Akira Fitzgerald played the long ball forward as New England’s Sean O’Hearn looked to head the ball back to his keeper. Anderson powered himself past O’Hearn to chip the keeper and find the back of the net.  

It was a team effort on the defensive side of the ball. The Kickers did not allow a single shot on target by the Revs. Jalen Crisler and Ivan Magalhães had a strong first outing as a center-back duo. Crisler led the team with seven clearances and Magalhães was tied on the team with two interceptions. Both defenders came up big late in the match to add a block apiece to preserve the first clean sheet of the season.  

The Kickers open up the home portion of their schedule next Saturday night, April 24 as the 2020 USL League One Title-Winners, Greenville Triumph SC makes the trip to City Stadium, presented by Bon Secours. Kickoff for that match is at 6:30 p.m. Save 50% on your matchday ticket with a Kickers+ subscription, plus several other perks at www.richmondkickers.com/KickersPlus. Tickets are still available at www.richmondkickers.com/Tickets.