Matt Turner's Six Saves and Matt Polster's Goal Lift Revolution Past Chicago Fire 1-0

Chicago Fire FC took 19 shots on Saturday night. They won 10 corners to New England's zero. They had the ball for most of the evening at Gillette Stadium and spent the second half camped around the Revolution's box like it was a tailgate. None of it mattered, because Matt Turner was in the way.

The New England Revolution beat the Fire 1-0, with Matt Polster's 26th-minute strike holding up thanks to six Turner saves and a back line that threw bodies at everything. The strange part: Chicago clinched a playoff berth anyway, courtesy of results elsewhere, so the Fire left Foxborough both empty-handed and postseason-bound.

Polster Cashes In

The opening 25 minutes were even enough. Leonardo Barroso fired high and wide for Chicago in the ninth minute, and Chris Brady stopped Dor Turgeman and Peyton Miller from distance for the hosts. Then Carles Gil did Carles Gil things.

In the 26th minute, the Revs captain worked his way toward the right edge of the box, and with Andrew Gutman blocking his path, he simply laid it off to Polster. The midfielder hit a right-footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom left corner. Chicago's box score listed it as Polster's second goal of the season.

The Fire answered with a flurry before the break. Maren Haile-Selassie had a shot blocked in the 37th minute, and Jonathan Bamba was denied twice in the 38th, first by a block and then by Turner. New England's best look of the rest of the half was a Miller shot that slid wide in the 42nd minute, and it came from a Turner pass, because apparently he was doing everything.

Chicago Lay Siege, Turner Says No

The second half was a one-way street with a very stubborn tollbooth. In the first four minutes after the restart, Robert Lewandowski had a shot blocked from the right side of the six-yard box, Turner saved from Anton Salétros, and Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Andreas Hanche-Olsen and Bamba all had attempts blocked in a single chaotic minute before Djé D'Avilla fired wide. Philip Zinckernagel's effort was blocked in the 54th minute too.

Gutman was booked in the 58th minute, and Brady had to stop a Miller shot from the left side of the box in the 62nd. Turner then went to work. He kept out a Lewandowski header from a Barroso cross in the 69th minute, stopped Zinckernagel from distance in the 81st, turned aside an Anzor Mekvabishvili shot in the 86th and denied Zinckernagel again in the 88th, this time at the top left corner.

The Revs had to absorb a setback along the way, as Will Sands came off injured in the 75th minute and Jackson Yueill replaced him. Lewandowski headed one just over the bar from a corner in the 90th minute, Zinckernagel had one more shot blocked in stoppage time, and New England held on.

Turner, Polster and the Wall

Matt Turner made six saves and, according to the Revolution, earned his sixth shutout of the season. Four of those saves came in the final 21 minutes, when Chicago had their foot on the gas.

Matt Polster scored on his only shot and then spent the rest of the night helping protect the lead. Carles Gil delivered the assist, and Peyton Miller was New England's most active attacker with three shots, two of them on target.

For Chicago, Philip Zinckernagel led everyone with five shots, two on target, and Lewandowski had three, one on target. Hanche-Olsen, per the Fire, was making his first MLS start.

The Turning Point

The early second-half flurry was Chicago's best chance to change the night. Six shots in about three minutes, four of them blocked, one saved and one wide, and not one of them crossed the line. After that, New England's defenders knew exactly what kind of night it was going to be.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Chicago outshot New England 19-5, but only six of the Fire's attempts were on target, while the Revs put four of five on frame.
• Corners: Chicago won 10; New England won none.
• Possession: Chicago held 61.7 percent of the ball.
• Blocked shots: New England blocked 10 Chicago attempts and made 31 clearances.
• Crossing: The Fire sent in 29 crosses and completed three.

What It Means

New England move to 16-4-10 (wins, draws, losses) with 52 points. The Revs said the result kept them third in the Eastern Conference, ahead of fourth-place Chicago, and capped a three-game week that included a playoff-clinching win at FC Cincinnati. It was also New England's 10th home win of the season and their second win over Chicago this year, after a 2-1 victory at Soldier Field in September.

Polster, for one, is not satisfied with simply getting in. "It's always enjoyable to be in the playoffs, but I don't say it lightly, I think that's the bare minimum for me and for the club," he said, according to the Revolution.

Assistant coach Michael Morris ran the team in place of Marko Mitrović, who was serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation, per the club. "I don't know where they find the energy at times, but they just keep going," Morris said.

Chicago drop to 14-6-10 with 48 points and have now lost two straight, after a 3-1 home defeat to Philadelphia on Wednesday. Still, the club said this is its first run of back-to-back postseason berths since 2009, and its second in two years under Gregg Berhalter. The Fire were also without Jack Elliott, who was suspended, plus Sam Rogers, André Franco and Robin Lod, per the club.

The Closing Take

It was Harry Potter Night in Foxborough, according to the Revs, and Turner played the part perfectly by throwing an invisibility cloak over his goal. Chicago got the playoff ticket. New England got the points, the clean sheet and a reminder that the best defense sometimes is just a goalkeeper in a very good mood.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by the New England Revolution. Additional details from Chicago Fire FC and MLSsoccer.com.