FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Lee Nguyen may have been denied by both posts before halftime, but those setbacks didn't stop him from having a profound impact on the Revolution's slump-busting 2-0 win over the Rapids on Saturday.
The Revolution skipper fired a team-high four shots and assisted on the deciding goal to help New England put a lengthy scoring drought (373 minutes) and six-game winless streak (0-5-1) out to pasture.
While it was nothing new to see Nguyen in the thick of the Revolution attack, it was somewhat of a surprise to see where he was getting the job done: up top, where he was partnered with striker Juan Agudelo, rather than in the attacking part of the central midfield.
"It had a lot to do with finding Lee different areas of the field where we can get him the ball," Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. "He's obviously being hounded every time he touches the ball and guys are all over him."
Nguyen was called upon to feature at forward with starting striker Kei Kamara unavailable due to international duty with Sierra Leone, and winger/forward Teal Bunbury out due to a right foot injury.
With the forward corps severely depleted, it was up to Nguyen to star in a role he'd rarely seen in recent years. But it was an opportunity he certainly relished, even against Colorado's top-ranked defense, which entered the match conceding a league-low 22 goals.
"It's a little more of a freer role to be able to start the attack once we win it, and being a little higher up the pitch when we're in possession, so it was great," Nguyen said. "I thought me and Juan combined really well today."
That combination paid dividends right out of the gate. Inside of 12 minutes, Nguyen played a give-and-go with Agudelo into the area, where the Revolution striker snuck it inside the far post to give the team its first lead since a July 31 clash at Orlando City.
"We kind of read off each other and we've talked a lot in training, both on and off the field," Nguyen said, "and we had that combination play (in the 42nd minute) that led to me hitting off the post, so I felt like we connected really well."
The aforementioned smack off the left stick - which Nguyen said felt like "a little dagger" - wasn't nearly as frustrating as the first occasion the skipper hit the post, which came in the 33rd minute.
Moments after Kelyn Rowe was upended by Zac MacMath inside the area, Nguyen stepped up to the take the penalty try. And while his shot was strong, it veered too far to the right, where it met the bottom of the right post.
"It was one of those moments where I wanted to take the pressure of my teammates, and if we went 2-up, then we would've been in a good situation," Nguyen said. "That's one I'm used to putting away and it was frustrating that the post got to me. But we fought hard to stay tight."
Goalkeeper Brad Knighton helped ease the pain of that miss by make a pair of highlight-reel saves, the first of which came on a rocket that shot off the right foot of Dillon Powers in the 18th minute.
"It was a timely save," Heaps said. "It's a save we need in game where you need things to go your way, and if that goal had (happened), it's 1-1 and who knows what the next moment is, and I thought that was huge and that kept our confidence up."
Despite hitting the post twice, Nguyen's confidence didn't appear to waver in the slightest. He connected on 93.8 percent of his passes in the forward's role, one which allowed him to point the Revolution toward a place they hadn't visited in league play since an August 6 match at Toronto: paydirt.
"I wanted a really hard-working midfield to really crash down and collapse on (the Rapids), and I thought that's what happened tonight," Heaps said. "I thought it freed up Lee into much better roles, and he's still able to find the areas of the field where a no. 10 usually does."