FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Fresh off his first full season at the professional level, New England Revolution midfielder Zachary Herivaux is already focusing on how he can make 2017 bigger and better.
Unsurprisingly, some of his veteran teammates have been offering up advice.
“A bunch of the guys are telling me to hit the weight room, so I think I’ve got to do that,” Herivaux, who cuts a slender figure at 6-foot-1 and 150 pounds, said with a laugh. “I’ve just got to work on my all-around game. With the ball, physicality – I have flaws in every part of my game, so I’ve got to work on them all.”
Herivaux, who followed in the footsteps of Diego Fagundez and Scott Caldwell as the Revolution’s third-ever Homegrown signing in May 2015, is still very much developing, but the 20-year-old from Brookline, Mass., showed glimpses of his tremendous potential this past season.
Herivaux made his MLS debut in March with a four-minute appearance in Philadelphia, but the highlight came in June, when he scored the game’s only goal – a thunderbolt from distance – to guide the Revs to an extra-time victory over the Carolina RailHawks in the early rounds of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
From there, Herivaux made further Open Cup appearances against the New York Cosmos, Philadelphia Union and Chicago Fire, before appearing in three straight league games in August.
His time on the field was minimal – Herivaux totaled just 38 minutes in five substitute appearances in the league – but combined with his 218 minutes of Open Cup action, he continued the maturation process that will have him better prepared for bigger challenges in 2017 and beyond.
“I need those types of experiences to get better,” Herivaux said. “That first Open Cup game (against Carolina) was a huge confidence boost. It [pushed] me to get a little MLS time, but I just want to keep pushing and pushing for more next season.”
Herivaux will remember 2016 fondly. Not only did he score his first professional goal and make his MLS debut, but he also started for the Chipotle MLS Homegrown Team against Mexico’s U-20 side and earned his first call-up to the full Haiti National Team (he’s eligible to play for the U.S., Haiti and Japan).
It was an important year for Herivaux, who’ll now look to take the next step in 2017.
“This year was better for me than last season,” said Herivaux, who totaled just three minutes of Open Cup action his rookie year in 2015. “You always want to improve on the season before, and I think I did that.
“I’m just excited to play here. I want to keep moving forward and develop.”
