Sound bites: Heaps, Agudelo react to stunning draw vs. Sounders

In the 54th minute of Saturday’s match against the Sounders, Juan Agudelo scored his second goal to give the Revolution a commanding 3-0 lead. Twenty minutes later, his club still held onto its three-goal advantage.

Yet in the final 15 minutes, everything changed. Nicolas Lodeiro took advantage of a deflection. Will Bruin finished a header. And Osvaldo Alonso found the back of the net from close range. In the blink of an eye, the Revs’ lead evaporated.

Here’s what Agudelo, Jay Heaps and Kelyn Rowe had to say after the match:

Juan Agudelo

On the mood in the locker room:

“Everyone’s really disappointed. Extremely happy with how our teammates fought for 75 minutes...but the last 15 wasn’t good enough and [the Sounders] were able to get three goals on us...this one hurts.”

On the first 75 minutes of the match:

“We had more composure once we did get the ball. I know toward the end of the game it was tough to keep [the ball] because a bunch of guys were a bit exhausted. At the end of the day, the possession’s 80 percent to 20 percent, it’s tough to win games.”

On his current form:

“On a personal level I feel very good. I feel like I’m able to help my teammates, whether it’s holding the ball and keeping possession or scoring goals, so hopefully I can keep this run going because the most important thing is to make the playoffs.”

Kelyn Rowe

On his team’s frustration level:

“It’s like I said before the game, it’s going to be a 90-minute battle. This is a very good team. If we give them cross after cross after cross they’re going to finish some chances.”

On his team’s response after Seattle’s first goal:

“I don’t think we put our heads down too much, I don’t think our confidence went down. It was a combination of things, sitting back too far. There was definitely a little bit of tired legs, myself included, but it’s one of those things mentally that on the road, you’re up two goals, got the 3-1 lead, and you got to bunker down and do better...it’s tough to swallow.”

On his return to Seattle:

“It was pretty incredible. I’ve actually got a buddy getting married tomorrow and he was in the crowd, and he was right there when I crossed the ball into Juan [Agudelo], so that was pretty cool for him. I saw my family and friends up in the corner...It’s great coming back here and playing in front of those people.”

Jay Heaps

On the second-half collapse:

“Once they started throwing numbers into the box, we didn’t deal with it very well. We just have to be better to clear our lines, make sure we get the clearances and not let them keep coming down at us. I just felt like the last 20 minutes we stopped playing, and it cost us.”

On the impact of Seattle’s first goal:

“I think [the first Seattle goal] turned the momentum for sure because I think that up to that point we had dealt with everything really well. And that moment caused a big gap in the game in terms of the momentum. Still, we’re up 3-1 at that point...and we felt like we should’ve done a better job to close down the game.”

On Agudelo’s performance:

“I thought Juan was awesome...when he needed to he came back and closed the ball down, held the ball up, scored two very good goals. I thought for us he was one of our best players.”

Post-game quotes courtesy of the New England Revolution.