FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Kelyn Rowe’s return to form has been one of several key factors in the New England Revolution’s recent resurgence. His haul of two goals and three assists in the past month has helped the Revs put together a five-game winning streak and climb to third place in the East.
It’s the type of contribution many expected from Rowe this season following a breakout sophomore campaign in which he registered seven goals and eight assists in the regular season, plus another goal and assist in the playoffs. Whispers of potential U.S. National Team call-ups followed the 22-year-old into the offseason.
But a nagging hamstring injury put a damper on Rowe’s third professional campaign before it had a chance to get off the ground. Rowe missed seven of the Revolution’s first nine games in 2014 and struggled to break into the lineup upon his return to the side in mid-May.
“Coming off the injury, it was hard,” Rowe said. “I wanted to get back in. I wanted to be the guy who was going to make an impact right away. It’s hard to do that when you’re out of the team for so long and you haven’t played in a while.”
Five of Rowe’s first six appearances after returning to health were off the substitute’s bench, and at the World Cup break he was still stuck on zero goals and zero assists for the season. While he was doing his best to contribute in other ways, the lack of end product wore on his confidence.
But an assist in an otherwise disappointing 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union in late June got Rowe off the mark and earned him a return to the starting lineup. Since then, Rowe has started 12 of the Revolution’s last 13 matches and has contributed a total of three goals and five assists.
Rowe has passed on much of the credit for his own resurgence to his teammates, lauding the influence of Lee Nguyen, Jermaine Jones and Charlie Davies – “When you give [Lee] the ball at the top of the box, he’s going to put it away; it makes you look really good,” he said – but head coach Jay Heaps pointed to Rowe’s commitment to defending as the key to his offensive success.
“I think Kelyn’s been really good on both sides of the ball,” said Heaps. “I think when Kelyn is working on both sides of the ball, finding the gaps defensively and then his defense turns to offense, he’s at his best.”
That concept was evident in Rowe’s recent equalizer against the Montreal Impact. After blocking a clearance attempt, Rowe let fly from 25 yards and skipped a shot past Impact goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
Rowe celebrated that goal by straddling the advertising boards to bring back his trademark “Rowe-ing” celebration. There was perhaps no more pertinent sign that the confidence which was once waning is now very much on the rise.
“Confidence is going to have to build back in and I think it’s starting to,” Rowe said. “You see it in the way we play. I think everyone’s starting to gain that confidence.”
