FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Andrew Farrell had been thinking about how he’d celebrate his first professional goal for a long, long time.
“It’s really funny because sometimes I talk about it before games, that I’m going to score. I talk to my girlfriend about it, and it never happens,” Farrell said. “Today we were talking about it with Teal (Bunbury) and he was like, ‘What are you going to do? Are you going to celebrate? How are you going to do it?’
“I was like, ‘I don’t know, I’ll probably explode.’”
The conversation was ultimately prophetic, because Farrell’s wait – five-plus professional seasons and 171 appearances all told – finally came to an end on Friday night when the 26-year-old right back scored the New England Revolution’s second goal in their 4-0 win over the Montreal Impact.
Thankfully, Farrell didn’t actually explode. What he did instead was run like a banshee until he spun himself to the ground, before finding himself at the bottom of a pig-pile of exuberant teammates.
“I think he went through about seven or eight different celebrations,” Bunbury joked postgame. “It was a lot of fun. You could see that everybody was very excited for him.”
“I blacked out a little bit. I can’t tell you what happened,” Farrell said with a laugh. “I just remember seeing Teal’s face when I was running around.”
It was a goal worthy of a six-year wait – a fantastic first-time finish to the far post, past the outstretched fingertips of Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush.
The quality of the strike was only matched by its importance. A man up after an early Montreal red card, Diego Fagundez had seen his penalty saved with the opportunity to give the Revs a 2-0 lead before halftime, and thus a stranglehold on the proceedings.
Farrell’s goal arrived deep into first-half stoppage time, ultimately giving the Revs the multiple-goal lead they craved and putting the game out of reach before the halftime whistle blew.
“Nothing’s a given in this game, that’s for sure,” said head coach Brad Friedel. “When we missed the penalty, we’re still only 1-0 (up). I think the second goal was definitely helpful. It took us into halftime with even more confidence from a half that we were well and truly on top.”
Farrell was mobbed by teammates after the game-breaking goal – Bunbury and Fagundez were first on the scene – and Scott Caldwell found Farrell as quickly as he could.
Caldwell and Farrell were fellow rookies in 2013 and they’ve been roommates for several years, and Farrell memorably sprinted across the field to tackle Caldwell when he scored his first MLS goal – also in a 4-0 win – against Real Salt Lake in 2015.
“I was a little upset because I was on the other side of the field,” Caldwell joked. “It’s not really an excuse, but I wasn’t as quick getting to him as he was getting to me. I was happy that everyone jumped on him, though. It was just really exciting.”
That sentiment was shared by all of Farrell’s teammates, who were thrilled to see the work he’s put in for years rewarded in the most tangible way possible. Even if it means they can’t rib him for having zero professional goals anymore.
“You could see that everybody was very excited for him; all the hard work he puts in,” said Bunbury. “Sometimes, we give him a hard time that he still hasn’t scored yet, but we can’t say that anymore. I’m proud of him.”
