FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s third game in eight days produced three goals and three critical points as the Revs rolled to a 3-0 win over league-leading Toronto FC on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
The victory extended the Revolution’s home unbeaten run to 11 games (9-0-2) and was the perfect capper to a busy week, as the Revs spent six days (Friday through Wednesday) on the road visiting both the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC.
A dramatic late equalizer in Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw with NYCFC offered an emotional boost heading into the weekend, and the Revs responded with a confident, comfortable win over TFC.
“I thought there was a really good coming together,” head coach Jay Heaps said of the Revs’ reaction to their midweek comeback, highlighting Xavier Kouassi’s effort to score the equalizer on an injured quad. “That really inspired everyone. On Thursday and Friday, there was a great energy.
“Going into tonight, we had a great couple days of preparation, and the guys were all-in on the game plan. When the game started, you could just feel something was going to go right tonight.”
Plenty went right for the Revs, who took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to Benjamin Angoua’s bullet header – his first MLS goal – and sealed the game with a professional second-half performance that featured goals from Diego Fagundez and Juan Agudelo.
Fagundez was one of six players who started all three games in the past week, and their effort on Saturday night required a healthy dose of determination.
“Three games in one week, that’s tough,” said Fagundez, who also helped set up Agudelo’s goal in a bizarre sequence that saw the ball hit the crossbar twice on one shot. “We knew we had a bye week next week, so everybody was going to give it everything they had in the tank.”
Saturday night’s win pushes the Revs’ record to 5-5-5 heading into their first official bye week of the 2017 regular season, as they’ll return to action on June 14 when they’ll host a U.S. Open Cup Fourth Round meeting with the Rochester Rhinos in Providence, Rhode Island.
Most importantly, heading into the break on the back of a comprehensive win over the league leaders allows the Revs to fully enjoy their upcoming time off.
“It’s huge; picking up a tie midweek and then coming home and getting a win against the top team in the league, it’s great,” said Agudelo. “Especially with a couple guys having some knocks that they can just refresh their bodies and come out even stronger in the second half of the season.”
