If only New England's match had stopped when Michael Parkhurst's midfield blast tickled the back of the twine, things would look just fine heading into the playoffs.
But Parkhurst's lob over Toronto FC goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos in first half stoppage time only started the scoring, with TFC and New England splitting four goals to end each team's regular season in an entertaining 2-2 draw in front of a sellout at BMO Field.
The story after the contest surrounded Parkhurst. Prior to the match, he had not even attempted a shot on frame in MLS play. After intercepting a loose pass in midfield and lifting his head, Parkhurst altered that statistic and made his first attempt on goal count by lobbing Stamatopoulos on the fly from 60 yards.
One of the prime candidates for Defender of the Year may have just scored the Goal of the Year as well.
And Parkhurst said the thought was always in the back of his mind.
"The goalkeeper always pushes up with his defense when the ball is cleared," Parkhurst explained. "I'm always trying to encourage our midfielders to look up and take a chance. I saw him off the line and got a little bit of luck."
The manner of the strike was most impressive because the tally hit the net, as if the shot had screamed in from half the distance.
"I stunned myself," Parkhurst said. "I didn't know what to do. Thank goodness Rallie [Steve Ralston] came over and started to celebrate with me."
Taylor Twellman's early second-half deflection from a Jeff Larentowicz header appeared to seal three points in front of a raucous TFC crowd.
But Collin Samuel knocked home a rebound in the 59th minute to set up a tense finish before Danny Dichio nearly matched Parkhurst's goal in second half stoppage time by lobbing Matt Reis to earn his side a draw.
It wasn't the result New England wanted to build momentum heading into next weekend's Eastern Conference semifinal series opener in New York against the Red Bulls.
"We talked about it before the game," Parkhurst said. "There was a lot to play for today. We wanted to shore up our defense and we wanted to gain some momentum heading into the playoffs."
Neither hope manifested for New England as the team chucked away a two-goal lead for the third consecutive game.
"It's disappointing," Parkhurst said. "It's getting very frustrating. But what's done is done."
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol said his charges deserved to take all three points.
"We're happy enough with the way we played today," Nicol said. "We're not happy we lost the goals, but we deserved to win it. We controlled the game."
Parkhurst said his team enters next weekend's series unaffected by the recent downturn of results (0-2-1 in the last three contests) and ready to vanquish the Red Bulls in an attempt to claim the elusive MLS Cup.
"We're confident," Parkhurst said. "We're a team that's been there before. We have the experience that we need to be successful."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
