New Father Fagundez Has Plenty to Celebrate
- Updated: October 15, 2017
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Initially, Diego Fagundez was going to wait until next year to let everyone know the good news. But after scoring the breakthrough in Sunday’s contest against NYCFC, he couldn’t keep it under wraps.
Before Sean Johnson got the chance to pick the ball out of his net, Fagundez grabbed it and tucked it under his shirt and ran to the corner flag as he sucked his thumb in a celebration that he elaborated on after the match.
“I’m very excited – I’m going to have a baby, so I’m going to be a father,” Fagundez said. “Sometimes, when good things happen, you need to let it out. There were some hard moments in my family that have happened, and something brilliant came along and made everything different.”
Fagundez was difference maker himself in Sunday’s 2-1 win. In addition to opening the account, he also scored what proved to be the game-winner in stoppage time.
With NYCFC’s defense stretched thin in the waning stages, Lee Nguyen found Fagundez unmarked in the box, where the Homegrown Player took a touch and fired away. But even though Johnson initially denied him, Fagundez followed up on the rebound to score.
So what led to the big night for the new father?
Jack Harrison’s early dismissal certainly lent itself to more offense for the Revolution, who were able to take advantage of the added space afforded to them.
“We had a lot more of the ball in the spots that Diego and Lee and guys like that can really gel,” Revolution coach Tom Soehn said. “When you get to moving the ball east and west, with one and two touches, it’s going to create spaces, and that’s how those guys make a living.”
Given the way the offense was humming, Soehn said the Revolution could’ve scored 3-4 goals on Sunday had they found the final pass more often.
“We were moving so well that the ball was just getting to be played,” Fagundez said. “Gershon [Koffie] and Scottie [Caldwell] in the back right there just doing all the hard work and making sure every time we got the ball they tried to play forward.
“As an attacking player, we try to do everything we can to make sure that it’s easy for us and I think today we definitely accomplished it. It was hard in the first half, but in the second half, we knew that one was coming and I’m glad it came,” Fagundez said.
Although Khiry Shelton scored right after the second Fagundez goal, the Revolution held on to win their club-record 12th home win in a match.
But records and personal stats seemed secondary to Fagundez on a night in which far greater things were on the mind of the 22-year-old Leominster, Mass. native.
“I can’t wait for the future,” Fagundez said.
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