By MIKE SCANDURA FOXBOROUGH – New England’s tendency to make a favorable impression in home finales was on display again Saturday night. A goal by Diego Fagunez was all the Revolution needed as it blanked the Chicago Fire, 1-0. New England is 7-3-1 in its last 11 home finales and finished the home portion of its schedule with a 7-4-6...
By MIKE SCANDURA
FOXBOROUGH – New England’s tendency to make a favorable impression in home finales was on display again Saturday night.
A goal by Diego Fagunez was all the Revolution needed as it blanked the Chicago Fire, 1-0.
New England is 7-3-1 in its last 11 home finales and finished the home portion of its schedule with a 7-4-6 record.
The Revs (8-17-8) stepped on the Gillette Stadium turf mired in a 180-minute scoreless streak. But Fagundez, whose minutes have increased due to his improved play and the team’s run of injuries, ended that streak – emphatically – in the 17th minute.
Kelyn Rowe fed Fagundez a short pass and Fagundez carried the ball across midfield and down the right side before lining a 25-yard shot into the far left corner, past Fire keeper Sean Johnson, for his second goal of the season.
New England’s only other scoring threat came in the 33rd minute.
Darius Barnes and Dimitry Imbongo worked a give-and-go down the left side.
After a wide-open Barnes collected Imbongo’s pass, he lined a shot over the cross bar.
New England’s defense stifled the Fire (17-11-5) and did not allow a quality scoring opportunity over the first 45 minutes.
The game was played before 25,534 fans, the fourth-largest, regular-season crowd in franchise history.
NOTES: The Revs again played with a roster that’s been devastated by injuries … The list included defenders Flo Lechner (spriained MCL), Stephen McCarthy (concussion-like symptoms) and Tyler Polak (sprained foot); midfielder Lee Nguyen (shoulder surgery); and forward Saer Lene (knee surgery) … In addition, the Revs were minus midfielder Benny Feilhaber who was sitting out a one-game suspension.
New England announced its annual team awards prior to the game … Nguyen was honored as the MVP for the third consecutive year as determined by a vote of the fans… McCarthy was named the Defender of the Year by the Revs’ media- … Keeper Matt Reis was accorded Humanitarian of the Year honors.
After being assessed a franchise-record 10 red cards last season, New England is likely to finish with less than half that total in 2012 … Through their first 32 games, the Revs have been handed only three with one – Fernando Cardenas’ ejection on May 5 at Salt Lake – later rescinded by MLS after New England filed an appeal.
The Revs began play against Chicago one goal shy of their total in 2011 (38) … Conversely, prior to Saturday’s game, the Revs had allowed 44 goals and are likely to finish below the 58 goals they allowed in 2011.