New England shuts out Timbers, 1-0

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Saer Sene scored his first MLS goal on his first shot in the first minute of play, and the New England Revolution beat the Portland Timbers 1-0 on Saturday.

Sene, a native of France playing in just his second match for New England, converted a header 28 seconds into the game for the eighth-fastest goal in MLS history. Chris Tierney set it up with a cross from the left side.

It was the first goal of the season for the Revolution (1-2), who were shut out in each of their first two games. It also snapped an eight-match winless streak dating to last season.

Portland (1-1-1) had three good scoring chances during the first half, but Diego Chara’s shot in the 13th minute went wide left and headers from Kris Boyd in the 25th and 31st minutes also sailed wide left of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis.

Reis, in his 15th MLS season, earned his 65th shutout and became just the sixth MLS goalie with 1,000 career saves.

New England has won six straight home openers.

Also Saturday, Canada beat Brazil 2-1 in a women’s soccer friendly before the Timbers-Revolution match. Former University of Portland standout Christine Sinclair scored in the 12th and 78th minutes for Canada, while Gabriella Demoiser converted a penalty kick in the 88th minute for Brazil.

REVOLUTION 1, TIMBERS 0

Portland 0 0–0

New England 1 0–1

First half–1, New England, Sene 1 (Tierney), 1st minute.

Second half–None.

Goalies–Portland, Troy Perkins; New England, Matt Reis.

Yellow Cards–Jewsbury, Portland, 17th; Tierney, New England, 18th; Palmer, Portland, 35th; Songo’o, Portland, 66th.

Referee–Hilario Grajeda. Assistant Referees–Kermit Quisenberry. Bill Dittmar. 4th Official–Daniel Fitzgerald.

A–12,925 (68,756)

Lineups

Portland–Troy Perkins, Rodney Wallace (Jorge Perlaza, 76th), Hanyer Mosquera (Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 24th), Eric Brunner, Kalif Alhassan, Darlington Nagbe, Diego Chara, Eric Alexander (Franck Songo’o, 60th), Lovel Palmer, Jack Jewsbury, Kris Boyd.

New England–Matt Reis, A.J. Soares, Kevin Alston (Alec Purdie, 70th), Chris Tierney, Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen, Clyde Simms, Shalrie Joseph, Ryan Guy, Blake Brettschneider, Saer Sene (Fernando Cardenas, 70th).