FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Brad Knighton is a very patient man.
Through his first eight seasons in Major League Soccer – spanning three different teams – Knighton made a total of 38 starts, averaging just 4.75 starts per season. He backed up Matt Reis and Bobby Shuttleworth with the New England Revolution, Chris Seitz with the Philadelphia Union, and Joe Cannon and David Ousted with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper spent the better part of a decade biding his time, diligently performing his duties on a daily basis while waiting for an opportunity to start a string of games.
That opportunity finally came late in the 2016 season when Knighton was the first name on New England’s team sheet for nine consecutive games from August 20 to October 16, and it’s safe to say that the veteran shot-stopper took full advantage of his long-awaited chance.
Knighton went 4-3-1 in those nine games, allowing just nine goals in the process for a goals against average of 1.02. Twice he won MLS Save of the Week, and he also kept a pair of clean sheets.
“I’ve been up and down and all over this league,” said Knighton, who also spent one year (2011) as a starter with the Carolina RailHawks, winning NASL Goalkeeper of the Year. “It’s about seizing an opportunity and I felt like I did that this season.”
Only once before had Knighton started as many as nine straight games in MLS; he made 11 consecutive starts for the Whitecaps in 2013, going 6-3-2 with two shutouts before making way for Ousted. He had two stretches of seven straight starts with Vancouver (2012) and Philadelphia (2010).
But this year Knighton grabbed hold of the starting role and never let go, only missing the final game of the season because of suspension. He attributes that success to a simplistic approach.
“It’s about putting together good performances and not trying to do too much,” Knighton said. “Make the saves that you’re needed to make, and if you can come up with a big save here and there, that’s also good. But try to keep the mistakes to a minimum and control what you can control.”
Knighton’s propensity for making big saves at critical times didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates, who voted the goalkeeper Players’ Player of the Year. He was also named the Revolution’s Santander Man of the Month three times, despite only featuring in 13 total league matches.
Overall, Knighton went 6-5-1 with a goals against average of 1.25 in league play. He also helped lead the Revs to an appearance in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, most notably saving two penalties in a shootout victory over the Union in the quarterfinals.
His performances this past season will put Knighton firmly in the mix for the Revolution’s starting spot in 2017, but he expects stiff competition from the rest of New England’s goalkeeping corps, which at the end of the 2016 campaign also featured Shuttleworth, Cody Cropper and Matt Turner.
“When you don’t make the playoffs, there are battles at every position; not only the goalkeeping position, but forwards and defenders and midfielders, as well,” Knighton said. “They blend a very good roster together here and they want guys to compete for minutes, and I think you saw that this year.
“We’ve got four really good goalkeepers. It’ll be interesting to see how we go forward with this, but it’s not going to change how we train. Since Cody got here – with me and Matt and Bobby – we’ve pushed each other every single day in training. That’ll continue next year, as well.”
