1997 New England Revolution season

The 1997 New England Revolution season was the second season for the New England Revolution both as a club and in Major League Soccer (MLS). Alongside the MLS Regular Season, the team made their debut in both the U.S. Open Cup and the MLS Cup Playoffs, although they failed to advance in either. The season began on March 29 with a 1–0 away win over the Dallas Burn, and concluded with a home shootout loss to D.C. United in the MLS Cup Playoffs on October 8. The 1997 season marked the first season with goalkeeper Walter Zenga, who would later be elevated to player-manager in the 1998 season after the departure of head coach Thomas Rongen.^[1]

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee/notes	Ref.
February 20	FW	11	Chiquinho Conde	Vitoria de Setubal	League Allocation	[2]
March 4	GK	1	Walter Zenga	Calcio Padova	League Allocation	[2]
March 6	DF	6	Leonardo Squadrone	Estudiantes de La Plata	League Allocation	[2]
March 10	DF	25	Alejandro Farías	Boca Juniors	Discovery Player	[2]
May 9	DF	3	Erik Imler	D.C. United	Claimed off Waivers	[2]
June 5	FW	23	Rob Jachym	Columbus Crew	Signed	[2]
June 5	DF	2	Brian Dunseth	Cal State Fullerton	Allocated from MLS Project-40	[2]
July 10	MF	11	Evans Wise	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Trade for Bill Harte	[3]
July 16	GK	26	Jeff Causey	D.C. United	Signed	[3]
August 13	FW	33	Giuseppe Galderisi	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Trade for Chiquinho Conde and Sam George	[3]
August 13	MF	7	Ivan McKinley	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Trade for Chiquinho Conde and Sam George	[3]

Transfers Out

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee/notes	Ref.
March 3	MF	6	Geoff Aunger		Waived	[2]
March 3	MF	13	Mark Watson		Waived	[2]
March 5	FW	-	J.T. Roberts		Waived	[2]
March 10	FW	11	Wélton	LA Galaxy	Traded for the Galaxy's first-round pick in the 1998 MLS Supplemental Draft	[2]
March 10	DF	3	Iain Fraser		Waived	[2]
March 10	GK	32	Aidan Heaney		Waived	[2]
March 10	GK	8	Peter Woodring		Waived	[2]
March 17	MF	14	John DeBrito		Waived	[2]
April 15	FW	24	Patrick Olalere		Waived	[2]
May 7	FW	19	Steve Klein		Waived	[2]
May 28	DF	9	Kevin Wylie		Waived	[2]
June 24	DF	17	Greg Lalas		Waived	[2]
July 10	DF	2	Bill Harte	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Traded in exchange for Evans Wise	[3]
August 13	FW	22	Chiquinho Conde	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Traded in exchange for Giuseppe Galderisi and Ivan McKinley	[3]
August 13	MF	14	Sam George	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Traded in exchange for Giuseppe Galderisi and Ivan McKinley	[3]
November 6	DF	20	Francis Okaroh	Chicago Fire	Claimed in the 7th round of the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft	[3]
November 13	MF	25	Alejandro Farías		Waived	[3]
November 13	FW	33	Giuseppe Galderisi		Waived	[3]
November 13	MF	3	Erik Imler		Waived	[3]
November 13	FW	9	John Kerr Jr.		Waived	[3]
November 13	MF	7	Darren Sawatzky		Waived	[3]

Draft results

College draft

The Revolution traded their first-round pick to the Tampa Bay Mutiny in exchange for the singing of former Mutiny coach Thomas Rongen.^[4] In addition, the team acquired an additional third-round pick and a first-round selection (#3) in the 1997 MLS Supplemental Draft from the Dallas Burn in exchange for a first-round selection (#2) in the 1997 Supplemental Draft. ^[5]

On February 2, 1997, the Revolution selected Scott Coufal, Steve Klein, and J.T. Roberts in the College Draft. On March 6, 1997, the Revolution waived Roberts.^[6]

New England Revolution – 1997 MLS College Draft
Round	Overall	Name	Position	Previous Club
2	12	Scott Coufal	GK	Indiana University
3	22	Steve Klein	M	Bowling Green State University
3	26	J.T. Roberts	M	Northern Kentucky University

Supplemental draft

On February 2, 1997, the Revolution drafted Bill Harte, Patrick Olalere, and Sam George in the MLS Supplemental Draft.

New England Revolution – 1997 MLS Supplemental Draft
Round	Overall	Name	Position	Previous Club
1	3	Bill Harte	D	Loyola University, Baltimore Spirit
2	12	Patrick Olalere	F	Carson-Newman, California Jaguars
3	22	Sam George	M	UCLA, Anaheim Splash

Club

Team Management

Position	Staff
General Manager	Brian O'Donovan
Head Coach	Thomas Rongen

Roster

All listed players made appearances in MLS regular season play.^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  USA Mike Burns 5 DF  USA Ted Chronopoulos 22 DF  USA Alexi Lalas 20 DF  NGA Francis Okaroh 10 DF  ARG Beto Naveda 8 MF  USA Imad Baba 25 DF  ARG Alejandro Farías 6 DF  ARG Leonardo Squadrone 1 GK  ITA Walter Zenga 11 FW  MOZ Chiquinho Conde 9 FW  USA John Kerr Jr. 12 FW  USA Joe-Max Moore 14 MF  USA Sam George 3 DF  USA Erik Imler 11 DF  TRI Evans Wise 7 DF  RSA Ivan McKinley

No. Pos. Nation Player 33 FW  ITA Giuseppe Galderisi 26 GK  USA Jeff Causey 7 FW  USA Darren Sawatzky 18 FW  IRL Paul Keegan 27 GK  USA Scott Coufal 2 DF  USA Bill Harte 2 DF  USA Brian Dunseth 23 FW  USA Rob Jachym 19 MF  USA Steve Klein 9 DF  USA Kevin Wylie 24 FW  NGA Patrick Olalere 17 DF  USA Greg Lalas

Non-competitive

Preseason

The Revolution played six pre-season matches and had a 3-2-1 record.

Matches

Mid-season friendlies

Matches

Competitive

Major League Soccer

Conference standings

Overall standings

Matches

D.C. United v New England Revolution

September 16 30	D.C. United	2–2 (5–4 p)	New England Revolution	Washington, D.C.
	Keegan 32' (og) Harkes 87'	Report	Moore 12', 53'	Stadium: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Attendance: 11,607 Referee: Toru Kamikawa
	Penalties
	Etcheverry Kelderman Moreno Maessner Díaz Arce Sanneh Harkes Mario Gori Llamosa Pope		Baba Imler Burns Wise Moore Klein Chronopoulos Farías Lalas Dunseth

MLS Cup Playoffs

The Revolution qualified for their first ever MLS Cup Playoffs and faced off against reigning champions D.C. United in a best-of-three matches. The team failed to secure a win in either match. It would take until the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2000 before the Revolution would appear in a playoff match again, and until the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2002 before they would advance in a playoff match-up.

Matches

D.C. United v New England Revolution

October 5 Game 1	D.C. United	4–1	New England Revolution	Washington, D.C.
	Wegerle 13', 56' Moreno 65', 76'		Burns 89'	Stadium: RFK Stadium Attendance: 12,540 Referee: Tim Weyland

New England Revolution v D.C. United

October 8 Game 2	New England Revolution	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p)	D.C. United	Foxborough, Massachusetts
	Okaroh  70' Moore 72'	Report	Williams 53'	Stadium: Foxboro Stadium Attendance: 16,233 Referee: Rich Grady
	Penalties
	Moore Burns Chronopoulos Galderisi Naveda Keegan McKinley		Etcheverry Moreno Kelderman Agoos Iroha Harkes Llamosa

D.C. United win the series 2–0.

U.S. Open Cup

The Revolution made their U.S. Open Cup debut after declining to participate in the 1996 edition. They exited in the Third Round after a 4-3 loss in sudden death extra time, to the Long Island Rough Riders.

Matches

New England Revolution v Long Island Rough Riders (A-League)

July 31 Third Round	New England Revolution	3–4 (asdet)	Long Island Rough Riders (A-League)	Foxborough, Massachusetts
6:00 PM	Kerr 9' Moore 59' Sawatzky 19'		Rinker 43' Rooney 74', 79' Mohammed 108'	Attendance: 2,031 Referee: Ruben Rodhas

Honors

• Team Most Valuable Player: Walter Zenga^[9]
• Team Scoring Champion: Alberto Naveda (20 pts, 7 G, 6 A)^[9]
• Team Defender of the Year: Francis Okaroh^[9]
• MLS All-Star Game Selections: Alexi Lalas, Ted Chronopoulos, Walter Zenga^[9]
• MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: Walter Zenga (Finalist)^[9]
• MLS Player of the Month: Walter Zenga (September)^[9]
• MLS Player of the Week: Chiquinho Conde (Week 10), Alberto Naveda (Week 11)^[9]

Notes

References