New England Revolution 3-Vancouver Whitecaps 3

Cristian Techera collected a hat trick, but the New England Revolution’s offense was equal to the task in Saturday’s 3-3 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Palce.

Techera torched the Revolution backline with tallies in the 49th, 51st, and 74th minutes after guests posted a two-goal thanks to an Aly Ghazal own goal and a Cristian Penilla strike in the 26th and 48th minutes, respectively. Teal Bunbury scored New England’s third goal in the 59th minute.

With the draw, the Revolution improved to 5-4-3 (18 points) while the Whitecaps went to 4-5-5 (17 points).
Techera entered the match with only two goals in eight games, but pitted against a decidedly porous Revolution defense, the 5-2 playmaker took the opportunity to double that total – and then some.

But before the Techera Show commenced, it was the guests who looked poised to take all three points.

In the 26th minute, Penilla used his speed to pressure the Vancouver backline into a dreadful mistake when he crossed into the 18 where Ghazal’s botched clearance attempt fell into the back of the net.

While Penilla wouldn’t get credit for the goal on Ghazal’s gaffe, it wasn’t long before the Ecuadorian midfielder got the chance to collect a proper strike.

Shortly after the break, Penilla’s pace was too much for defender Sean Franklin, who was left in the dust after the midfielder slotted his shot inside the far post in the 48th minute.

But New England two-goal lead – one of the most dangerous in soccer, as the saying goes – was short-lived thanks to Techera.

Seconds after the Revolution celebrated Penilla’s goal, a completely-unmarked Techera easily tapped though a pass from Marcel de Jong to score Vancouver’s first goal.

Their second goal came only two minutes later after Techera pounced on a ball bobbled by goalkeeper Matt Turner to net another in the 51st minute.

With the match quickly deadlocked at two-apiece, the Revolution charged ahead right before the hour when Diego Fagundez found Bunbury racing through the Vancouver backline, who could only collectively watch the striker beat goalkeeper Brian Rowe in the 59th minute.

However, the final word went to Techera in the 74th minute. On another sequence in which he took advantage of the space afforded to him by a disorganized Revolution backline, the Whitecaps midfielder converted a Yordy Reyna pass to register the hat trick, Vancouver’s first since 2013.

Techera and his teammates return to action on Friday at Colorado. The Revolution will host Atlanta on Wednesday.