FOXBOROUGH, Mass - Prior to last weekend, Pat Noonan's last 90-minute stint and last goal for the New England Revolution was in last season's MLS Cup Playoffs.
Consider both of those marks wiped from the ledger.
Noonan tallied once and dished out an assist in last Saturday's 3-3 draw against Columbus.
Noonan's 17th-minute strike past Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer was his first regular-season goal since Sept. 9, 2006 against New York.
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was pleased to see his striker back among the goals.
"I think it's huge for him personally," Nicol said. "It's good to see him scoring goals."
While Noonan admitted that it was nice to score his first goal since tallying in the playoffs against Chicago in game two of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series, he would have rather have had the three points against the Crew.
"It would have been more important if we won," Noonan said. "It doesn't mean anything if you're not winning."
What does mean something is Noonan's first full match since the start of the season. Noonan has been plagued by a number of ailments over the last year and a half that has restricted his playing time.
Hoping to reclaim his fitness from the start this season, Noonan toiled through a lost preseason with the Revs; he suffered a hamstring strain while the team was in Bermuda and later injured his hernia enough to require surgery.
Missing preseason and recovering from the hernia and hamstring injuries left Noonan struggling for match fitness early in the season.
"A lot of it is just time," Noonan said. "Hopefully, it's behind me. It's never fun being injured."
As he recovered from injury and regained match fitness, Noonan's time on the field was limited in the opening stages of the season. Before last Saturday's contest, Noonan had made three starts in which he was withdrawn no later than the 62nd minute.
But with usual strike partner Taylor Twellman off on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty and his fitness regained, Noonan went 90 minutes for the first time since MLS Cup last November.
"It felt good," Noonan said. "I'm 100 percent right now. I'm getting back into it."
Nicol is pleased to have Noonan back to full strength because of his usefulness in different facets of the game.
"He does a lot of things for us," Nicol said. "He's the first line of defense. He'll score some goals, he'll assist on some goals, and he'll work his socks off for us."
Noonan was paired with rookie striker Adam Cristman last week with Twellman out of the lineup. Noonan admitted there was a period of adjustment from playing with someone not named Twellman.
"[The chemistry] seemed OK last week," Noonan said. "They play two different types of styles. Adam's powerful. He likes to run at people. Taylor likes to hold the ball up. I'm just trying to get acclimated to it."
Noonan's return to full fitness and Cristman's form leaves Nicol with decisions to make once Twellman returns from national team duty.
"We're delighted [to have some depth]," Nicol said. "Cristman's come on and gotten better and better."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
