RAPIDS CAN'T OVERCOME FIRST HALF COLLAPSE AND FALL 3-1 TO NEW ENGLAND AT GILLETTE STADIUM

Colorado Fails to Clinch Playoff Berth; Vital Battle Against Dallas Looms Sunday

FOXBORO, MA. (Wednesday, August 28, 2002) - The Colorado Rapids conceded three first half goals to the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night, and dropped the game, 3-1, despite a furious second half comeback. Mark Chung scored his 10th goal of the season, but the Rapids could not erase the early deficit.

New England's first-year scoring sensation Taylor Twellman put the Revolution on the board first in the 27th minute with a shot that deflected off defender Robin Fraser and past goalkeeper David Kramer. Joe Franchino started the play from the left flank with a pass to Twellman, who slipped past Rick Titus and delivered a low shot that hit Fraser in the leg and bounced into the goal.

The Rapids offense sputtered in the first half, managing only two shots, while the Revolution continued to attack the overworked Colorado defense. A foul outside the penalty area by Raul Palacios in the 39th minute set up a great chance for New England, and the Revolution made the Rapids pay. Midfielder Daniel Hernandez converted the free kick, bending a 23-yard shot over the four-man Colorado wall and just inside the left post.

It would take the Revolution less than a minute to further extend its lead. After gaining control of the ball following the restart, the league's leading assist man, Steve Ralston, found Twellman inside the penalty area with a pass that skipped under Titus. Though Twellman failed to get a solid shot, his effort was enough to see the ball trickle into the net and give New England a 3-0 lead. The goal was Twellman's 17th of the season.

The Rapids made a pair of substitutions to begin the second half, inserting Steve Herdsman into the match for Robin Fraser and replacing Wes Hart with Ritchie Kotschau. Head Coach Tim Hankinson made the moves largely to protect Fraser and Hart from picking up a caution, which would force them to sit out the crucial game against Dallas on Sunday. A yellow card for either player would have meant an automatic one-game suspension because of accumulated caution points.

The moves seemed to bring life to the Rapids early in the second half. Forward Chris Henderson broke free into the offensive third and served in a cross, but his hopeful pass was cut out by the defense. Just a minute later forward Chris Carrieri made similar progress into the penalty area, but like Henderson's chance before him, Carrieri's was denied short of the net.

The Rapids got their first truly dangerous shot on goal in the 56th minute, but former Colorado goalkeeper Adin Brown was up to the task. From a dead ball situation Henderson spun a ball to the far side of the penalty area, where Titus made solid contact with a header and sent a shot at the left side of the goal. The shot forced Brown to make a quick move to his right, but the goalkeeper held onto the ball.

Carrieri did his part to help get the Rapids back on track in the second half, and nearly scored in the 61st minute after capitalizing on some open space. The second-year forward beat his defender and fired a quick, low shot, but it flashed just wide of the right post.

The Rapids dodged a bullet in the 68th minute when Steve Ralston volleyed a shot just past the woodwork. Franchino delivered an inch-perfect free kick into the penalty area, and Ralston smashed it out of the air, but it missed the target.

Colorado tested Brown again in the 73rd minute. Second-half substitute Seth Trembly earned the Rapids a free kick on the edge of the 18-yard box, and a quick restart by Valderrama to Palacios nearly resulted in a goal. Palacios took the short pass from Valderrama and blasted a low shot at the far post, forcing Brown to dive left and punch the ball away for a corner kick.

The Rapids finally broke through in the 75th minute when Valderrama and Henderson worked the ball to Chung for a goal to cut the lead to 3-1. Valderrama's pinpoint pass forward found the streaking Henderson, who cut the ball back across the goalmouth for Chung to knock home from close range.

Brown saved the Revolution again in the 83rd minute when he was quick off his line to tip away a centering pass from Henderson that was destined for the foot of Carrieri. Carrieri would have almost certainly tapped the ball into the empty net had Brown not extended his 6-foot-5 frame into the ball's path.

Henderson and the Rapids did not quit in the second half, and the work nearly paid off with a goal in injury time. Henderson spotted Brown sleeping in goal and chipped a shot from outside the penalty area, which the goalkeeper swatted down before it could creep into the net under the crossbar. Brown failed to control the ball, however, and Trembly nearly hustled into position to bang it home, but the goalkeeper managed to turn it out of play for a corner kick.

The Rapids return to action this Sunday at INVESCO Field with a 7:00 p.m. contest against the Dallas Burn. Prior to the match, from 4-7:00 p.m., the Rapids will host Fiesta de Dollar, with live music, dancing, bull rides, and a free beer with the purchase of a $1 taco from Illegal Pete's.

Scoring Summary:
NE --Twellman (Franchino, Griffiths) 27
NE --Hernandez (unassisted) 39
NE --Twellman (Ralston, Heaps) 39
COL--Chung (Henderson, Valderrama) 75

COLORADO RAPIDS--David Kramer, Robin Fraser (Steven Herdsman 46), Jeff
Stewart, Wes Hart (Ritchie Kotschau 46), Rick Titus (Seth Trembly 62), Mark
Chung, Raul Palacios, Carlos Valderrama, Zach Kingsley, Chris Carrieri,
Chris Henderson
TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Carrieri 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (five players with 1); FOULS:
21
(Stewart 6); OFFSIDE: 6; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: Kramer 2; CAUTIONS: Titus
34, Stewart 36, Kotschau 61, Palacios 65; EJECTIONS: none; POSSESSION
PERCENTAGE: 51%

N.E. REVOLUTION--Adin Brown, Carlos Llamosa (Rusty Pierce 11), Daouda Kante,
Joe Franchino, Jay Heaps, Leo Cullen, Steve Ralston, Winston Griffiths
(Brian Kamler 36), Daniel Hernandez, Wolde Harris, Taylor Twellman (Nick
Downing 89)
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Hernandez 3, Twellman 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Twellman 3);
FOULS: 16 (Cullen 3, Twellman 3); OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: Brown
4; CAUTIONS: none; EJECTIONS: none; POSSESSION PERCENTAGE: 49%

Referee: Rich Grady; Assistant Referees: Richard Eddy, Bahji Salman
Attendance: 13,210; Weather: Overcast, 65 degrees, Overcast

Post Game Quotes:

Head Coach Tim Hankinson

"Like two boxers feeling out their opponent, we have a bad habit of coming out and not being the aggressors. We got caught tonight and found ourselves in an enormous hole. We really didn't create any good attacks in the first half and found ourselves back on our heels. We made some changes in the second half to bring some energy into the match and protect some players from picking up cards and missing the next match. Sometimes you look at a night like tonight and realize this isn't going to be your night, so you bring in some guys who might have the energy to make a game of it. We pushed players up into better attacking roles and really created some great chances in the second half and could've gotten back in the game."

Goalkeeper David Kramer

"We handed them goals all over the place, so I wouldn't give them too much credit for scoring. It wasn't like they worked hard for them. I don't think Twellman even touched the third goal. We've given up a lot of goals on the road. If we keep them at two (goals) it's a completely different game. But we didn't give up, which is good. You've got to forget about things like this and move on."

Midfielder Mark Chung

"We went out in the second half and showed that if we pressured them that they'd cough the ball up more, which they did. It was a totally different game in the second half than in the first. We should be playing the entire game like we did in the second half. If we came out with a different mentality like we did in the second half, it would have been a different game."

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