Sounders Bounce Revs Out of Race

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Teenage phenom Diego Fagundez scored in his first MLS start, but Fredy Montero’s brace officially eliminated the Revs from postseason contention as the Sounders secured a 2-1 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Fagundez, who got the nod up top with Milton Caraglio, put the Revs (5-14-12, 27 pts.) on the board in the 35th minute. But the lead was short-lived as Montero quickly replied in the 36th minute, and added another in the 47th minute while Kasey Keller stopped the remainder of the Revolution’s shots to give the Sounders (16-6-9, 57 pts.) their third straight win.

16-year-old Diego Fagundez scored his second career goal in the Revs 2-1 loss to Seattle.

Although Seattle entered the match with the league’s top offense (49 goals), it was the Revs who came out firing in the first half. In the 4th minue, Caraglio headed it through to give the Revs what appeared to be the opening goal. However, the Argentine was ruled offside, despite visual evidence that suggested he may have been onside before Ryan Guy sent it toward the far post.

With the offense clicking, the Revs continued to pressure the Seattle defense. Caraglio and Fagundez found chances, but neither was able to get it through. In the 27th minute, Guy had a great opportunity to make it one-nil when Fagundez fed it to him in front of Keller, but the midfielder poked it right into the keeper’s arms.

Their forays into the final third finally bore fruit when Benny Feilhaber launched a corner into the box, where Fagundez stepped up and nodded it under the crossbar to finally get the Revs on the board in the 35th minute.

But Montero responded a minute later when he took advantage of a Ryan Cochrane miscue, went one on one with Matt Reis, then buried it into the back of the net for the immediate equalizer.

With the score knotted at one going into the second half, the Sounders searched to find goal number two. They needed only two minutes to find it, when Montero once again came to his teammates’ rescure when Nate Jaqua chested a deflected shot toward the shifty striker, who poked it through to give Seattle the lead in the 47th minute.

Facing an all-too-familiar scenario – playing from a deficit – the hosts tried to respond to Seattle’s resurgent attack. But with the Revolution offense stuck in neutral, Montero nearly found his third goal when he headed it toward the far post before Reis hurried over to sweep it away.

In the 68th minute, Steve Nicol switched his squad’s look to the 3-5-2 with the hope that his offense would return to its first half form. While the midfield may have settled down, the passing between the middle and final thirds was faltering and kept the Revs from testing Keller.

Caraglio tried to get the equalizer in the 71st minute, but his accuracy eluded him as he saw his shot go straight to Keller, who made his sixth and final save of the night to preserve Seattle’s first-ever victory in Foxborough.

With their playoff hopes officially dashed for the second straight season, the Revs will play for pride alone on Saturday, October 8th when they welcome the San Jose Earthquakes to Gillette. The game will kick off at 7:30pm.

One Comment