UConn In MLS: Cascio, Rapids Fall To New England, But Recover Against Dallas

It was a homecoming of sorts on Wednesday night for Colorado Rapids forward Tony Cascio.

The 22-year-old rookie winger joined his fellow Rapids starters on the field as the lineups were announced, and couldn't help but crack a smile when his name brought on the biggest cheer an away player has likely received at Gillette Stadium all season.

The former UConn star continued his impressive start to his first season, creating a couple of chances for the Rapids to get some goals, but the team ultimately fell 2-1 to the New England Revolution.

It was a back and forth affair for the most part, but the Rapids spent much of the opening quarter of an hour backed into their own end, as the Revolution kept applying early pressure and nearly opened the scoring on more then one occasion.

Momentum started to shift when a ball was played to Cascio who flicked it forward into wide open space for Omar Cummings, but Colorado's top scorer couldn't capitalize. Cascio himself almost found the net minutes later with a shot from the right side of the box, but his effort was saved by New England's Matt Reis, who earned his 100th career win on the night.

The 2010 MLS champions finally found the net when Jaime Castrillon put the ball in off a corner kick to give the Rapids a 1-0 advantage after 21 minutes.

The lead was short-lived as six minutes later, Revolution forward Saer Sene beat Matt Pickens to put New England back in the game and shift momentum once more. 12 minutes later, with only about six minutes remaining until halftime, Fernando Cardenas attempted a shot from the corner of the 18-yard-box that Pickens tried to redirect over the crossbar, but instead put it into his own net. The goal was credited to Cardenas as it was originally on frame and the Revolution took a 2-1 advantage that they would not surrender.

With three points dropped, the Rapids returned to Colorado for a few days before heading to Texas for a rematch of MLS Cup 2010 against FC Dallas. The match was back and forth for the first half hour, but the Rapids were given a nice advantage when the Hoops had two players sent off in the span of two minutes in a very strange part of the match in term of bookings. Dallas midfielder Daniel Hernandez and forward Blas Perez were sent off in the 34th and 36th minutes respectively, reducing Dallas to nine men for the duration of the match. Two minutes after Perez was sent to an early shower, Cascio was booked for Colorado, his first career yellow card in Major League Soccer.

Dallas made two defensive substitutions at halftime making it difficult for Colorado to get anything going offensively, but the floodgates finally opened. Castrillon scored for the second straight game in the 61st minute to give the Rapids the advantage. 13 minutes later, midfielder Martin Rivero scored his first goal for the Rapids since joining on loan from Argentine club Rosario Central. The Rapids took the match 2-0.

Another good week for the Rapids, who now have 15 points from 10 matches, and another good week for Cascio. The midfielder seems to be adjusting quite nicely to MLS. After 10 games, nine of them starts, the rookie has two goals and has been creating a lot of opportunities for himself and his teammates.

The Rapids next take the field in Washington, D.C. on May 16, when they take on DC United, in what will be a battle of two players who many believe are the two best rookies thus far, Cascio and DC's Nick DeLeon. The two are quite familiar with each other. Cascio, a Connecticut alum and DeLeon, who played for Louisville in college, played against each other on the two strongest teams in the Big East Conference in college. UConn and Louisville played twice last season. The Huskies won 1-0 in overtime in Kentucky to end Louisville's two and a half year unbeaten run at home and then won 1-0 in November at Red Bull Arena in the semifinals of the Big East Championship.