Revolution stuns Kansas City 2-1

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The message written on the whiteboard in the New England Revolution's locker room was clear: "Please don't trade jerseys tonight."

It's a good thing they didn't; they may need them longer than expected.

Andy Dorman and Kelyn Rowe scored second-half goals to lead the Revolution to a stunning 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Aurelien Collin had the lone goal for Kansas City, which will play host to the second and final match of the series on Wednesday. The winner will be determined by aggregate scoring.

"It's a step forward, but at the same time, it's a very difficult road ahead," New England coach Jay Heaps said. "If we're talking three or four goals, then maybe this is a big step forward. But it's a battle.

"We have a one-goal lead, it's halftime and we have a big, big battle going to Kansas City."

New England, making its first postseason appearance since 2009, won three straight matches to close the regular season and went undefeated in its final six games to qualify for the playoffs.

Kansas City, on the other hand, had little trouble advancing to the postseason, allowing a league-low 30 goals in 34 games to finish with the second-most points in the league, just one behind the New York Red Bulls for first place in the conference.

The Revolution certainly can attest to Kansas City's stingy defense.

New England hadn't scored in five previous meetings and 556 minutes before Dorman broke through in the 55th minute following a fortuitous bounce.

Diego Fagundez's cross from the right flank was saved by keeper Jimmy Nielsen, who hit the ground in an attempt to stop the ball from heading farther across the box. But Nielsen's kick instantly deflected off Revolution forward Juan Agudelo and trickled toward an open goal line, where Dorman easily tapped it in.

The Welsh midfielder had no idea how long of a streak he had snapped with his first MLS goal since July 7, 2007.

"I didn't realize, to be honest, that we hadn't really gotten through that much," Dorman said. "It was good to get the goal, but we're looking forward to the game on Wednesday night.

"We know how it is. It's a two-leg series, and we've got to go again."

Kansas City coach Peter Vermes thought offsides should have been called on the goal.

"When the shot's taken, all three guys are offsides. So when the ball comes back out, they can't get an unfair advantage in that situation," he explained. "It's an easy call, but obviously it doesn't go that way. But we haven't gotten any of those calls all year long, and we can't ask for them now."

It didn't take long for New England to strike again.

In the 67th minute, Lee Nguyen dribbled through the defense before finding Rowe, who beat his defender to the ball just inside the box and stabbed at it with the outside of his right foot, sending it into the far left corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.

"I got a little tug, so I didn't know if I could get there with my left foot," Rowe said. "I decided to slide down and hit it with the outside of my right."

Collin cut the deficit in half two minutes later when he beat Revolution keeper Matt Reis, and Dominic Dwyer nearly knotted the score in stoppage time with a blast from inside the box, but Reis was perfectly positioned to make a game-saving stop.

"It's a huge save," Heaps said. "His reflexes are pretty amazing. I don't think there's been a better goalie in the league that has reflexes like that."

NOTES: Reis finished the regular season without a loss in any of his 11 decisions (7-0-4), becoming the first in MLS history to go unbeaten in a season while playing at least 10 games. He also owned the league's lowest goals-against average at 0.72 in 995 minutes. ... Revolution D Jose Goncalves was one of seven players in the league to play every minute of every game (3,060 minutes) this season. ... This was the first postseason meeting between the two teams who have met in 47 regular-season matches. ... Sporting KC owns the longest shutout streak in the league this season at 546 minutes. Sporting also went 412 minutes without conceding a goal this year, good enough for the fourth-longest run.