FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Seattle forward Fredy Montero scored twice to end New England's playoff hopes and ruin Diego Fagundez's first MLS start in the Sounders' 2-1 victory at Gillette Stadium.
Fagundez opened the scoring with a header after 35 minutes to collect his second goal of the campaign, but Montero replied a minute later to restore parity heading into halftime.
Montero added the winner to his haul two minutes after the break by tucking home from close range to give the Sounders their first victory in Foxborough and their third win on the trot.
New England asserted control over the match in the early stages against a makeshift Seattle side with one eye on Tuesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final against Chicago at CenturyLink Field.
Milton Caraglio saw his early effort ruled out by a suspect decision from the assistant referee, while Diego Fagundez missed just wide on 20 minutes and prompted an opportunity for Ryan Guy to fire at Kasey Keller three minutes later.
It came as no surprise that Fagundez opened the scoring after 34 minutes, but the manner of his goal probably came as a bit of a shock. The 16-year-old shed his marker in the goal area and headed home Benny Feilhaber's corner kick to notch his second goal of the campaign.
Seattle thought they should have scored a minute before Fagundez's opener when Nate Jaqua wastefully nodded wide at the back post, but they wasted no time to restore level terms. Montero seized upon Ryan Cochrane's error to thump home his 10th goal of the season inside the far post to send the Sounders into the break on equal footing.
Montero doubled his haul two minutes after halftime as the Revs were once again caught at sixes and sevens at the back. New England failed to deal with a long hoof up field by Keller and the subsequent service into the penalty area. Jaqua chested the deflected ball for the open Montero to slot home for the second time on the evening.
Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis somehow dug Montero's header off the line in the 58th minute as Seattle pressed for a third, but the Colombian soon made way for local boy Mike Fucito to end his quest for a hat trick.
New England switched to a 3-5-2 formation to facilitate their push for an equalizer in the final 20 minutes, but they failed to create viable opportunities in the late stages and ultimately fell to a third consecutive defeat.
Seattle Sounders (16-6-9) vs. New England Revolution (5-14-12)
October 01, 2011 -- Gillette Stadium
Scoring Summary:
NE -- Diego Fagundez 2 (Benny Feilhaber 5) 35
SEA -- Fredy Montero 10 (unassisted) 36
SEA -- Fredy Montero 11 (Nate Jaqua 2) 48
Seattle Sounders -- Kasey Keller, Zach Scott, Roger Levesque, Tyson Wahl, Patrick Ianni, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 46), David Estrada, Servando Carrasco, Erik Friberg (Osvaldo Alonso 79), Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 68).
Substitutes Not Used: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Sammy Ochoa, Jeff Parke, Josh Ford.
New England Revolution -- Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Darrius Barnes 68), Chris Tierney, A.J. Soares, Ryan Guy, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Monsef Zerka (Pat Phelan 69), Diego Fagundez, Milton Caraglio.
Substitutes Not Used: Zak Boggs, Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally, Zack Schilawski, Bobby Shuttleworth.
Misconduct Summary:
SEA -- Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless Tackle) 28
NE -- Milton Caraglio (caution; Reckless Tackle) 84
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Referee's Assistants: Greg Barkey; Claudio Badea
4th Official: Geoff Gamble
Attendance: 21,022
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy-and-66-degrees
