For the Lions this season, opportunities have been hard to come by.

When they do come, like in this game, they take full advantage of them.

Following an early ejection from the visiting team, the floodgates opened as Orlando City stamped a 6-1 victory over the New England Revolution Wednesday night in front of 23,018 at Orlando City Stadium.

“I think we’ve proven that we’re a capable team,” said Orlando coach Jason Kreis. “I think we’ve proven when the guys are fully committed and work really hard together, we can be a really good team. That’s the way it’s been all year, from my point of view. We’ve been putting forth our best. When the players give everything they have, we get good results. And when we don’t, we don’t.”

Antonio Nocerino scored his first-ever goal for the Lions after opening the scoring in the 22nd minute after finishing a free kick executed by Yoshimar Yotun.

The playmaking from Yotun followed when the Peruvian converted a corner kick to connect with Seb Hines to head the ball past the goalkeeper for the 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

Ricardo Kaka tripled the lead in the 43rd minute after firing a strike from distance past goalkeeper Cody Cropper, but Lee Nguyen pulled one back for the Revs (11-15-5, 38 points) before halftime after scoring off a free kick outside the box.

Kaka secured his second goal in the 77th minute before Dom Dwyer fired a strike from close range in the 84th minute for his first-ever goal at Orlando City Stadium. Yotun capped the scoring in the 90th minute.

New England went down a player in the 11th minute when Xavier Kouassi was issued a straight red card for a foul on Hines.

Yotun finished the game with a goal and two assists. Dwyer recorded a goal and two assists and Richie Laryea recorded his first-ever MLS assist during Yotun’s goal in the closing moments of the game.

Orlando was six-games winless at home entering the game with the last victory at Orlando City Stadium occurring on May 31 during a 2-0 win over DC United.  

The Lions (10-13-8, 38 points) return to action on Saturday when they host FC Dallas at 4 p.m. The game will air live on Univision Deportes and Facebook Live.

Here’s how the Lions lined up: 

Orlando City XI: Bendik; Sutter, Pereira, Hines, Toia; Carrasco, Nocerino, Yotún, Kaká, Barnes; Dwyer.

Orlando City bench: Edwards Jr.; Ramos, Redding, Powers, Laryea, Rivas, Larin.

(Photo Courtesy of Orlando City) 

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