For starters, teenagers turned into dynamos

Matt Reis rises to the task, with help from Michael Parkhurst, against Brian Ching (25). (STEW MILNE/Associated Press)

FOXBOROUGH - Gambians Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi learned some lessons while sitting on the Revolution bench during last year's MLS Cup loss to Houston.

"When you play against guys who are bigger and stronger than you, you have to use your speed and go at them," Nyassi said before doing just that in last night's 3-0 win over the Dynamo. "Houston has strong guys, so you have to play one-twos and go past them."

Mansally (19 years 2 months) and Nyassi (two days younger) became the youngest opening-day starters for the Revolution. The previous youngest were Rusty Pierce (20 years 7 months) in 2000 and Welton (20 years 11 months 361 days) in 1996.

Nyassi and Mansally set up Steve Ralston's opening goal (16th minute). Nyassi scored the final goal in second-half added time, and cleared an Eddie Robinson shot off the line in the 58th minute.

"I have to work on tracking back," Nyassi said. "I concentrated 90 percent on defense. I expected to score a goal, the way the game was going.

"Houston is a great team. You have to be wise enough to just wait for them to make a mistake and capitalize on it. I used my speed and talent to do that."

Host of possibilities
The Revolution are 8-5 (23-14 goal differential) in home openers.

A crowd of 11,116 attended last night's game, the first significant professional soccer game scheduled in the Boston area in the December-through-March period since the 1920s.

Revolution home-opener attendances have ranged from a low of 9,727 April 9, 2005 (3-0 win over Columbus) to a high of 57,407 April 20, 1997 (2-1 win over Tampa Bay in a doubleheader that featured a US-Mexico World Cup qualifier at Foxboro Stadium).

The Revolution attracted 22,006 May 11, 2002 (2-0 win over Dallas), the opening event at CMGI Field, later renamed Gillette Stadium.

Long and short of it
Ralston's 16th-minute score was the Revolution's earliest season-opening goal since Giovanni Savarese scored in the first minute of a 1-1 tie at Miami in 1999. The longest the Revolution went scoreless at the start of a season was 196 minutes in 1997. Sam George converted in a 3-1 loss to the MetroStars in the third game.

Chasing a job
Chase Hilgenbrinck played for three seasons in Chile, then was projected as a starting left back by the Colorado Rapids this season. But Hilgenbrinck was waived after the Rapids acquired Jose Burciaga Jr. from Kansas City, then joined the Revolution at a reduced salary last week. Hilgenbrinck, who didn't play last night, performed at Clemson before former Southern Wesleyan University coach Claudio Arias arranged a tryout with Huachipato in Concepcion, Chile. Six months later, Hilgenbrinck signed a contract. "There wasn't much interest from the MLS," Hilgenbrinck said. "My best option was to go there and come back as a more respected player. It wasn't easy, but you learn to be a professional, you learn a new culture, a language, plus the soccer is great."

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.