The New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC battled to a 0-0 draw at BMO Field on Wednesday night.
Both sides were bruised, battered and shorthanded, with a combined 23 players out from their matchday rosters.
New York added three players from Red Bulls II ahead of the match, seeing O'Vonte Mullings make his MLS debut in his home city of Toronto. Jayden Reid, who signed this offseason to a Homegrown deal, also made his MLS debut for the club.
"I would say from the group tonight I'm very pleased with the performance, another clean sheet," Head Coach Troy Lesesne said. "That's the third match in a row. We continue to make progress toward some of the things that we want to improve on with the ball in terms of creating just some different looks and different ideas."
RBNY and Toronto both had 12 shots, with three shots on goal. Carlos Coronel made a pair of incredible saves to keep TFC off the board.
"I love the way that our press looked in the second half in particular towards the end of the first half, the second half in particular, I thought we were really in sync with one another," Lesesne said. "It's a chance or two that we have that we could win the game. I think to be fair to Toronto, we also had some moments where they were dangerous, and transition moments and they could have won the game as well. So, point in the end is fair, but some really, really good performances. Very happy to see Jayden and O’Vonte get their first MLS match under their belt."
Lesesne has two wins (Open Cup and MLS) and one draw in three matches in charge. The team is yet to allow a goal under Lesesne.
"It’s absolutely encouraging that we have a players coming back and then, hopefully, we have even more players coming back in the next couple of weeks from injury," Lesesne said. "I think tonight the focus for me is the group that went out and competed and was very good on the road against a Toronto side that has a lot of talent. That encourages me more than anything because now when we have so many matches coming in a short period of time, and someone needs to step up, they've proven that they can do that in different roles. And I'm very happy to see that."
Coronel has recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time this season. He has now posted three shutouts this season. The Brazilian goalkeeper has registered 24 shutouts with the Red Bulls, which is one shy of tying Tony Meola for second most in franchise history. Coronel has registered 10 road clean sheets in his time with the Red Bulls.
The Red Bulls have only allowed 11 goals this season, which ranks tied for the fifth lowest in MLS and tied for the second lowest in the Eastern Conference.
"Every time I wear a Red Bulls jersey I am very confident because I know all my teammates respect the style of play and we all have the same mindset," Hassan Ndam said. "It doesn’t matter who’s on the field but it was me today and I represented the club in a proper way because they gave me confidence and they believe in me. As I said, my teammates gave me good support, we are all supporting each other for all of us to have confidence on the field."
Ndam made his first start of the season and his first MLS start since October 1, 2022, against Columbus Crew.
The Red Bulls have extended their unbeaten streak to three matches across all competitions and have not conceded a goal for 329 consecutive minutes. New York has only surrendered 34 shots on goal this season, which is the lowest in MLS.
New York returns to Red Bull Arena for a battle with CF Montréal on Saturday, May 20. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm. ET with coverage on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English and Spanish and New York Red Bulls Radio in English via Tune In, the New York Red Bulls app, and NewYorkRedBulls.com.
