From New England Revolution
KANSAS CITY, Kansas -- The New England Revolution's nine-game unbeaten streak came to an end on Wednesday night as they suffered a 4-2 loss to Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park. The Revs, who had not lost since March 15, remain in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-3-4 record for 19 points, two points behind D.C. United, whom New England will host Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
New England took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute when Juan Agudelo got on the end of a Kelyn Rowe through ball and broke in behind the Sporting Kansas City defense before cutting past a defender and slotting a shot past Tim Melia to give the Revs a 1-0 lead.
The home side equalized in the 29th minute when Dom Dwyer controlled a cross from Krisztian Nemeth with his chest before turning and firing a left footed volley into the bottom right corner of the goal, leveling the score at 1-1.
Sporting pulled ahead 10 minutes later when Nemeth got free in the penalty area and headed a Benny Feilhaber free kick past Brad Knighton to give the home side a 2-1 lead. Knighton, who was making his first start of the season in place of Bobby Shuttleworth, was forced to pull the ball out of his net once again just four minutes later when Feilhaber converted a penalty kick to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead. Referee Allen Chapman whistled the penalty after Revolution defender Jose Goncalves was adjudged to have pulled back Dwyer inside the area.
Sporting Kansas City extended its lead less than a minute into the second half when Nemeth scored his second, taking a a pass from Jacob Peterson and breaking in alone on goal before finishing for his second goal of the game, making the score 4-1 in favor of the home side in the 46th minute.
The Revolution pulled a goal back in the 64th minute when Scott Caldwell placed a right-footed shot past Melia for his second goal of the year. Goncalves started the attack, playing a long ball over the top of the Kansas City defense for Charlie Davies, who cut the ball back for Caldwell to cut the Sporting lead to 4-2. However, that would be as close as the Revs would get as they dropped their first game in more than two months.