![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/reis6.jpg?resize=272%2C300\" "\\"reis6\\"")
<\/a>Matt Reis' good distribution helped lead to the Revs early goal on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d said Nicol. \u201cWhen you start the game level, you look to get yourself ahead. You don\u2019t want to be sitting back and letting the opposition come at you, go ahead or have the initiative. It\u2019s very important [to get off to a fast start].\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been the Revs who have been putting their opponents on the back foot at the start of games this season. In their season opener, New England opened the scoring through Shalrie Joseph in just the third minute, helping the team earn a 1-1 draw in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Zack Schilawski gave the Revs the lead in eighth minute and Joseph doubled it on a penalty kick nine minutes later before the Revs cruised to a 2-1 victory against D.C. United.<\/p>\n
But while aiming for fast starts has always been on the agenda, the execution hasn\u2019t always been there. Post-game press conferences and locker room interviews often sounded like a broken record in 2010 with many players lamenting slow starts and early deficits and\u00a0speaking of the need to be ready to play right from the opening kickoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year we were playing from behind a lot,\u201d said veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis. \u201cThis year, so far, we\u2019ve played in front. It just changes the game. The other team has to start attacking and if we could possess the ball a little bit more it would make it a lot easier on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
While possession is still a concern, as it was last year, the Revs showed marked improvement in the home opener against D.C.\u00a0 and in the second half of the season opener against Los Angeles after struggling mightily to hold the ball in the first half of that game. The eventual return of Marko Perovic and newcomer Ousmane Dabo to the lineup could help in that department.<\/p>\n
Holding the enviable position of playing with a lead has aided the\u00a0club across the board in their first two matches of the new season. Grabbing an early advantage opens up the field a bit for the offense as opponents are forced to attack, while alleviating some of the pressure on the defense as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just being ready to play [has been the difference],\u201d said Joseph, the team\u2019s captain, after the win over D.C. \u201cComing out here tonight, we know we\u2019re at home and the fans were out there in a lot of numbers trying to cheer us on and get us ready for the start of the whistle. Luckily we got an early one from Zack and after that we just kept pushing and pushing to try to find a second one and it came from a penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good just being up 2-0,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt helped us to relax a little bit and allowed us to play a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of that change in the\u00a0players’ preparedness may be a product of the increased depth in the squad this year, which\u00a0lends itself to\u00a0fiercer competition for spots and forces players to\u00a0consistently bring their \u201cA\u201d game to practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have a ton more depth this year,\u201d said Schilawski. \u201cThe biggest difference is in training. Training\u2019s really competitive. [There is] tons of competition for spots this year, which only makes everyone better. It\u2019s been a big help for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schilaswki is perhaps the best example of the increased competition in training this season. After he beat out veteran striker Ilija Stolica for a starting spot in the first two games, the second-year striker has shown increased confidence this year, challenging and beating defenders on the attack.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that the young forward has been the catalyst to the Revs quick starts. Schilawski\u2019s hard work earned the corner that set-up the Revs opening strike in Los Angeles. The following week, the Wake Forest\u00a0product found the back of the net himself against D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn any game, any team will tell you if you can start the game up a goal that\u2019s big time,\u201d said Schilawski. \u201cThen you\u2019ve just got to worry about finding the right spots, defending hard and trying to steal another one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fast starts have been the key to New England’s turnaround this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4118,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/reisfeature6.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4097"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4145,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions\/4145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}