Offensive Explosion No Fluke For Revolution

The New England Revolution have been on a recent ascension to the top of the Eastern Conference. They have continued to be the stellar defensive team that many have come to expect from Jay Heaps and his squad, yet the Revs offense has exploded in recent weeks and brought them to the top of the East.

To put the Revs' recent offensive output into context, one must understand just how futile their offense was to start the 2014 season. The MLS regular season started on March 8, in Houston, against the Houston Dynamo. The Revolution did not net their first goal of the season until the 35th minute of the March 29 game against San Jose, and that was an own goal by the Earthquake. Lee Nguyen later scored the Revs first goal in the 93rd minute for the first goal off the foot of a Revolution player. Their scoreless streak spanned 305 minutes to start the season, but was about 363 minutes before a Revolution player scored.

Compare that to the last 180-plus minutes from the Revolution and one might think a different team was on the field. In the past two games the Revolution have scored 10 goals. Five at home against the Seattle Sounders and five on the road at PPL Park in Philadelphia, a place they had never won before. The 10 goals over two games is a franchise record for the Revolution. The question is, what lit the fire under the Revolution?

The Revs current four-game winning streak, in which they have scored 14 goals, started on April 26 against Sporting Kansas City which was also the first game the Teal Bunbury was moved to an outside midfielder role in Heaps' 4-1-4-1 system. Since that move, Bunbury has gathered both of his goals and all three of his assists on the season. Bunbury has used his speed and agility to make plays happen while playing behind the ball rather than over the top.

Another huge part to the offensive output is rookie forward Patrick Mullins. Mullins has started at forward in each of the previous three Revolution games, scoring in all three. Mullins has proved his offensive worth by scoring his three goals on just four shots on target. Mullins has shown his ability to make plays while playing over the top of the Revolution offense, all while maintaining the defensive responsibilities that Heaps and his staff demand.

Finally, the Revolution can attribute their offensive success to their 2013 leading scorer, Diego Fagundez. Fagundez had been held scoreless in the Revs' first nine games, but has exploded for three goals in his last two games. Fagundez has taken advantage of the increased speed up front with Bunbury and Mullins to increase the intensity of the Revolution attack.

The recent surge has the Revolution tied for fourth in MLS with 19 goals, tied with the Chicago Fire and just four goals behind Seattle for the league lead. They also sit atop the Eastern Conference with 20 points and a 6-3-2 record and third in the Supporters Shield standings (best regular season record in MLS) behind Seattle (25 points) and Real Salt Lake (23 points). The Revolution will look to add to their four-game winning streak as well as their six-game unbeaten streak on May 24 when they welcome D.C. United to Gillette Stadium. D.C. United is the last team to defeat the Revs, downing them 2-0 on April 5 at RFK Stadium.

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