Revs Notebook: Reis Speaks

Revolution Matt Reis (R), seen here with teammate Lee Nguyen prior to a game last season, spoke about his family’s struggles after his father-in-law was critically-injured during Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Like many spectators who attended Monday’s Boston Marathon, Matt Reis was there to cheer on someone he loved.

His wife, Nicole, was running the famed marathon for the first time, and Reis, along with a group six of family members, were looking for a spot to take a picture of her crossing the finish line.

They never got that opportunity.

At around 2:45 pm, a bomb exploded about 50 yards ahead of the finish line. Although he was able to avoid the blast, his father-in-law, John Odom, could not. He was critically injured, and remains in an area hospital.

“We’re trying to do the best we can,” Reis said on Wednesday. “We’ve just been through a rollercoaster of emotions. We’ve been happy and sad and angry and pretty much everything (else). We’re trying to be strong for each other, strong for John and (we’re) trying to give him as much as he needs help to fight this.”

Reis held court with the media on Wednesday to discuss his family’s situation, and provided an update on his father-in-law.

“He’s still in critical condition,” Reis said. “He was alert this morning, but he’s been through three surgeries now in the last 40 hours or so. He hasn’t really stabilized yet, and we’re still hoping, but he is progressing a little bit.”

The veteran goalkeeper also recounted Monday’s horrific scene, and made mention of how he, along with some of his family, just barely escaped taking the brunt of the first blast.

“We were right there (where the first explosion was) just a minute before,” Reis said. “We moved closer to the finish line.”

After hearing the blast – which he said “sounded like a cannon” – the Revolution goalkeeper raced over to where he just was to check on his father-in-law, who stayed behind when the rest of the family made its way closer to the finish line.

Odom was transported to a nearby hospital, where Reis said his father-in-law has undergone three surgeries already as of Wednesday morning. According to Reis, his father-in-law is progressing slowly, but the family isn’t quite sure what the immediate future holds.

“We’re still not sure if he’s out of the woods yet,” Reis said. “We still don’t know if he’s going to make it so that’s definitely the hardest (part).”

HEAPS: MONDAY WAS ‘VERY TRYING’

Revolution head coach Jay Heaps wasn’t in Boston when two bombs exploded near the finish line at Monday’s Boston Marathon, but when he got the news, he was especially concerned about some of his players.

A number of them – including Reis, Chris Tierney, Lee Nguyen and Bobby Shuttleworth – were either at or near the finish line when the explosions occurred.

“It was very trying,” Heaps said. “It angers you and saddens you it scares you and its all the above. I know that when I had my kids with me, I held them close and I wanted to just find out information about our team.”

SENE EXPECTS MORE ACTION ON SATURDAY

After making his season debut in Seattle, Saer Sene is anxious to get more time on the pitch on Saturday.

“I played in Seattle for 20 minutes,” Sene said. “I feel that I could play (this week) 30 to 40 minutes. But, yeah, let’s see and maybe next game I can play more than that.”

With the way the Revolution have struggled to manufacture goals, Sene hopes that his return to fitness kickstarts the offense. And while he’d love nothing more than to go a full 90 for the first time since tearing his ACL last August, he knows that the decision isn’t entirely in his own hands.

“It’s up to the coaches,” Sene said. “I feel good and if he puts me with the starters, I will play, too, but yeah I’m just waiting. But it’s going to come.”