Herivaux strike lifts Revolution over Carolina in Open Cup

Zachary Herivaux. Photo/revolutionsoccer.net

Zachary Herivaux reached a personal milestone on Wednesday night in Cary, North Carolina, as he helped the New England Revolution defeat the Carolina RailHawks 1-0 in the fourth round of the US Open Cup.

The homegrown midfielder slammed a shot into the upper corner of the net in the 103d minute of Wednesday’s game, the first goal of his career, to lead the Revolution to victory in the American domestic cup.

Wednesday’s game seemed to drag on at various points as the Railhawks, who play in the North American Soccer League, clogged up the middle of the field and threatened the Revs on the counter-attack.

In addition, the match, which kicked-off at 7:30 p.m., didn’t conclude until 12:22 a.m.; lightning strikes in the area suspended play after the ninth minute, as officials chose to delay the game for two hours.

After much waiting, Herivaux, who was making his first-ever professional start, emerged as the hero.

He started and finished the game in midfield next to Scott Caldwell; Revolution coach Jay Heaps employed a 4-2-3-1 formation that featured a mix of starters and players that have so far been on the periphery this season.

Also making his first start was right-back Jordan McCrary, while Donnie Smith slotted in on the opposite flank. Brad Knighton made his first start of the season in net, while Heaps employed an attack of Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez, Juan Agudelo, and Femi Hollinger-Janzen.

Revolution stars Lee Nguyen, Chris Tierney, and Kei Kamara eventually got substituted into the match to help turn the tide, though Carolina managed to push for a shock result even into extra time.

In fact, the Revs out-shot the hosts 22-18, but lost out in shots on target 5-3. Tierney hit the crossbar from a freekick near the start of extra time, which appeared to be sign that the game was headed to penalties.

But Herivaux, the second-year man with an American, Haitian, and Japanese passport, made the most of some space in the late hours of Wednesday evening and smacked home a memorable goal, which turned out to be his side’s game-winner.