{"id":30943,"date":"2015-01-25T14:32:41","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T19:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=30943"},"modified":"2015-01-25T15:48:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T20:48:11","slug":"mullins-will-miss-ne-but-happy-to-join-nyc-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=30943","title":{"rendered":"Mullins Will Miss NE, But Happy to Join NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_30946\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30946\" data-attachment-id=\"30946\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?attachment_id=30946\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?fit=600%2C415\" data-orig-size=\"600,415\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Mullins-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?fit=300%2C208\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?fit=600%2C415\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30946\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?resize=600%2C415\" alt=\"Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz\" width=\"600\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?w=600 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?resize=300%2C208 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-30946\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Even after his name was left off the Revolution\u2019s protected list for the expansion draft, Patrick Mullins fully expected to spend another season in New England. But he also knew that one phone call could change that.<\/p>\n<p>Less than 72 hours after setting up Chris Tierney\u2019s game-tying strike in the MLS Cup final, the 23-year-old striker realized he wouldn\u2019t be renewing the lease on his Boston-area apartment after New York City FC selected him in the first round of the expansion draft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very bittersweet, because I definitely built a home and an environment around me in Boston,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cThe New England area, and the community, really embraced me and made a southern guy feel really at home in the northeast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, it would\u2019ve been nearly impossible for the Revolution faithful to root against the rookie forward. The two-time MAC Hermann Trophy winner was coming off an 18-goal campaign while at Maryland, but he curiously slipped in the SuperDraft to pick 11, where Michael Burns and Jay Heaps jumped on the chance to select him.<\/p>\n<p>Mullins quickly assumed the role of the confident underdog, and made himself one of the most approachable members of the team at supporter events. While his debut in Houston wasn\u2019t his finest moment, he returned to the lineup in May, and quickly asserted himself as a valuable piece of the Revolution arsenal when he scored in four straight games.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bCHYch9TJgM\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Although Charlie Davies eventually supplanted the former Terrapin up top, Mullins, who tallied five goals and two assists across all competitions in 2014, continued to put in the work on the training pitch. And to his credit, that attitude parlayed itself more playing time down the stretch \u2013 not to mention a championship game cameo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt really good in those two months leading up to the final in how I was playing,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cSo I had a lot of confidence. It might not have translated to the field, but (the assist to Tierney) was a good moment for me to reaffirm where I was at and where I thought I was playing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That reaffirmation, though, wasn\u2019t enough to get his name on the protected list, which Mullins fully understood. That was the business. No hard feelings.<\/p>\n<p>So when New York City head coach Jason Kreis called to welcome him to the club, he wasn\u2019t upset or angry. Rather, he was grateful for the opportunity afforded to him during his first \u2013 and only \u2013 season in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loved it up here \u2013 everything from the organization to the surrounding community,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cObviously (switching teams) is tough, but those are things in this profession that you have to deal with in some cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another thing he\u2019ll have to deal with: detaching himself from the ardent and vocal support he regularly received from the Foxboro Faithful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll miss the Fort and all of the great fan sections we had,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cThe Revs fans are as loyal fans as you can come by, and they\u2019re very loud and proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Mullins acknowledges that New England will hold a \u201cspecial place\u201d in his heart, he views the opportunity in front of him as one in which he can continue to make a name for himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the sweet part is that I\u2019m going to a good situation, and a place where I can succeed as a player,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cAs much as I\u2019ll miss New England, I still have to focus on my career and moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Revs striker Patrick Mullins will miss playing in front of the Fort, but is excited about his opportunity with NYC FC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[175],"tags":[891,49,941,1314,888],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mullins-11.png?fit=600%2C415","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30943"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30943"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31081,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30943\/revisions\/31081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}