New England tests defensive prowess against Whitecaps

Published January 13, 2015

The New England Revolution and Vancouver Whitecaps will meet for the only time this season as the interconference rivals clash on Saturday at BC Place.

New England enters the match as one of the hottest teams in the league, coming off an impressive 5-0 drubbing of the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy on June 2 and a 0-0 draw against D.C. United last week.

It was a defensive battle all night at Gillette Stadium against D.C., as Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth was called on to make one save while recording his fourth consecutive clean sheet, extending his shutout streak to 395 minutes.

"Every time we step on the field we want to get the shutout, we want to keep the zero. The guys have been really, really good. The back line has been super organized like I said. The shape has been good throughout the entire season," said Shuttleworth.

"The goals we have given up, I don't think that we were making the mistakes on those things. So as we're going along we're trying to fix those things and I think that's exactly what's happening."

New England hasn't conceded a goal since May 11 and leads MLS with nine shutouts this season. Shuttleworth has seven, tying him with Sporting Kansas City's Jimmy Nielsen for the league lead.

Vancouver, meanwhile, is coming off a 3-2 defeat to its Cascadia Cup rivals Seattle Sounders last week before a packed house of more than 50,000 at CenturyLink Field.

Camilo bagged both goals, but the Whitecaps were done in by a strong second- half performance from Seattle.

The loss saw the Whitecaps three-match undefeated streak come to an end, but head coach Martin Rennie was quick to point out some positives.

"That's only the second game we've lost in the last 10 games. After the Montreal game, when we didn't win that final (in the Canadian Championships), we knew it was New York and Seattle coming up away from home. I think if we were told we'd get three points from that we would have taken that," said Rennie. "Now we dust ourselves off and look forward to the next one."

In three all-time meetings between the sides, New England holds a 2-0-1 advantage, including a 4-1 win last season.

URL

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