Revs Send 4 to Rochester
- Updated: March 27, 2013
Revolution left back Tyler Polak was one of four players the club loaned to Rochester on Wednesday. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – As part of their new partnership with the Rochester Rhinos, the New England Revolution loaned out four players to the USL-PRO side on Wednesday.
Defenders Bilal Duckett and Tyler Polak, along with midfielder Gabe Latigue and forward Matt Horth were sent to Rochester, which kicks off its season on April 13th.
Although all four hadn’t made the gameday 18 in any of the Revolution’s first three games of the season, head coach Jay Heaps was quick to caution that their assignments weren’t demotions.
“It’s 100% to get games,” Heaps said after training on Wednesday. “They were great here in training, but we feel that Tyler, Gabe, Bilal and Horthy need to get games.”
The Revolution-Rhinos partnership, which was launched in January, calls for the MLS club to loan out a minimum of four players to its USL affiliate. New England can “recall” any of the four at any time during the season, so long as the minimum is met.
Given the club’s current roster depth, Heaps admitted that if logistics allowed for it, he’d send even more to western New York, if only for fitness purposes.
“I could argue that if we could send 10, we’d send 10,” Heaps said. “But we need to have training here. I can name 6-7 more guys that need games so (the four) are actually the lucky ones.”
Polak had only seen one game of MLS action last season after the Revolution took him in the second round of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.
Duckett was signed after spending the 2012 season with the Harrisburg City Islanders. He was originally drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2011.
Latigue was the only 2013 Supplemental pick to sign after an impressive preseason that saw him play five games and record an assist in a 3-2 Desert Diamond Cup loss to Real Salt Lake.
Horth signed with the Revolution in January after a 12-goal campaign with the NASL Atlanta Silverbacks in 2012, but was hampered by a knee injury during the preseason.
“For me, those guys were battling to get into the (gameday) 18,” Heaps said. “I think this affords us the opportunity to get these guys (some) games. That’s what these four players need the most right now: games.”
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