Revolution Coach Jay Heaps On DA Show: 'Every Day A Step Forward'
BOSTON (CBS) - As Duke was falling to Lehigh in the NCAA tournament, Blue Devil alumni and Revolution head coach Jay Heaps was kind enough to join 98.5 The Sports Hub's The DA Show Friday.
Heaps is in his first season as Revolution head coach, and is really excited with the progress his team is making early in the season.
"I think we're really getting there. We were tested last week, we had an excellent preseason; I'm not at all surprised at where we're at. We have a couple of injuries so we're not all the way there but at the same time we're getting better every time we step on the field," said Heaps, who wore the Revolution uniform for nine seasons as a player. "Every day is a step forward."
Read: Revs-Sporting KC Preview
The Revs fell to the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 in the season opener last weekend, but are coming off a very successful preseason in which they went 6-0-1 against some very competitive teams.
"It's a good test. Obviously results don't matter in the preseason but at the same time there were some first teams out there and we were going hard against some of the best teams in the league. If anything it gave our players the confidence," said Heaps.
One of the young and exciting players taking the field for the Revolution is 17-year-old Leominster native Diego Fagundez, who scored two goals in six games after joining the club late last season.
"He's a very instinctual player; he senses the game, he sees the game," Heaps said of his young forward. "He had a lot thrown on him last year and we're just going to make sure we use him in all the right situations... we just don't want him to get too much too early. At the same time, he's someone of the guys we can use for our favor because he is a gamer. He gets on the field and he makes things happen."
Heaps also has 20-year-old rookie Kelyn Rowe at his disposal, a dynamic attacker out of UCLA.
"He's a mature soccer player. He can sort things out on the field. We wanted to get the best soccer player available at the time," Heaps said of taking Rowe third overall in January's SuperDraft. "Kelyn just kept standing out... He's a soccer player with a soccer brain."
The Revolution visit Sporting KC Saturday night at 8:30pm. Hear all the Revolution action this season on 98.5 The Sports Hub!
