MLS Playoffs
Bobby Shuttleworth Proves He Belongs in Top Flight
Patience and determination have paid off for Bobby Shuttleworth, the 27-year-old western New York native who arrived in MLS as an unheralded rookie and is now one game away from MLS Cup.
THE NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION'S evolution from also-ran to serious championship contender has occurred thanks to players with impeccable pedigrees: U.S. internationals, MVP candidates, and a slew of first round draft picks and college All-Americans.
And then there’s Bobby Shuttleworth, who is the first to concede his C.V. doesn’t quite match up to the likes of Lee Nguyen, Jermaine Jones, and Charlie Davies.
While most of his fellow starters were pegged for stardom at an early age, and many achieved it, Shuttleworth took a different path. But as the Revolution stand one game from returning to MLS Cup for the first time since 2007, the goalkeeper has emerged as a vital and reliable cog as the team takes a 2-1 aggregate lead into its second leg of the Eastern Conference final against the New York Red Bulls (3pm, NBC Sports).
Shuttleworth is also a rare example of an MLS team discovering, signing, and patiently developing a player, basically taking someone no other team knew about and nurturing him until he was able to be a key starter on an elite squad.
“He’s done everything we’ve asked of him this year,” said Revolution goalkeeper coach Remi Roy, who has mentored Shuttleworth for most of his pro career. “In this league, every goalkeeper is a good shot-stopper—that’s a given. But what Bobby has done, where he’s really grown, is in being a game manager, knowing when to speed the game up or slow it down, when to play (the ball) short or send it long, organizing a defense. "Those are things, they don’t come easily to a young goalkeeper. They take time to learn and he has really grown in those areas and I think that’s a big reason why we’ve gotten better as a team.”
The rest of the Revolution starters were either so good as teenagers that they signed as pros or they attended top soccer factory schools like Indiana, California, Akron, and various ACC programs. The 27-year-old Shuttleworth, by contrast, came to the Revolution in 2009 as a free agent from the University of Buffalo, by no means a traditional soccer power. He left school with a season of college eligibility remaining, signing with the Revs in an unusual maneuver, even by MLS’ often-fluid standards.
“In the summer after my junior year, through a family friend, I got a chance to train with the Revolution for a week,” Shuttleworth explained to American Soccer Now. “I guess I did well and they were looking for a No. 3 goalkeeper and they said if I wanted to come they’d take me at that time.”
Since he still had eligibility remaining, it wasn’t that simple as underclassmen (who aren’t from MLS academy programs) can’t just sign directly with MLS teams of their choosing. If they could, there would be a feeding frenzy for elite talent.
But because Shuttleworth was an unknown prospect from a school that hasn’t sent another player to MLS, it was hardly noticed when he signed with the minor league Austin Aztex and then promptly signed by the Revolution, thus usurping the entire draft process. It’s certainly not something that highly regarded underclassmen prospects like Connecticut’s Cyle Larin or Washington’s Cristian Roldan could pull off.
“It was a little unusual, I admit,” said Shuttleworth. “I really didn’t understand how it all worked at the time. They worked it all out. I just knew they wanted me. Coming from such a small soccer school, I thought it was the best opportunity I was going to have to get a chance (to play professionally). I knew at the time, I wasn’t going to be on anybody’s radar.”
Despite the allure of pro soccer, Shuttleworth knew it wasn’t a move without risk. “I’m not sure if I am able to say I was ready at the time. But I knew I wasn’t going to get an opportunity as good as this one,” he said. “At the end of the day, it turned out all right. But it could have gone the other way if I had gotten injured or New England hadn’t allowed me to develop.”
With veterans Matt Reis, one of the best goalkeepers in MLS history, and Preston Burpo ahead of him on the pecking order, there was little need for Shuttleworth to be thrown to the wolves and he played sparingly early on as a pro.
Roy, who joined the Revolution in 2010, chuckles when he recalls Shuttleworth’s early time as a pro.
“He’s definitely grown a lot," Roy said. "When I got here, he was very raw. A very good athlete. But I think, his knowledge of the position, he wasn’t a pro. He was a kid who came out of college early to take a chance. We started some goals for him to improve in 2010 and the big one was for him to be ready to be the starter now.
"When I came in 2010 we knew it would be four-to-five years before Bobby would get a chance. I knew I’d have Matt around for a while and Bobby knew he wouldn’t play right away and he was fortunate to have a few a years to develop.”
Shuttleworth made his professional debut late in 2010, playing six league games that season and seven more in both 2011 and 2012.
“For me, those first couple of years were just trying to learn as much as possible. Being able to learn from Matt Reis—there’s not much more I could ask for. He was a great teacher and a great friend,” Shuttleworth said. “I knew there’d be a transition and knew if I waited it out and kept training hard I’d be given an opportunity and last year I got it.”
That opportunity came last year, a little earlier than the Revolution had envisioned and only because of a tragedy. As has been well-documented, Reis’ wife Nicole ran in the Boston Marathon last April and Reis and his father-in-law John Odom were waiting at the finish line when the infamous explosions hit that year’s race. Odom was caught in the fray, as shrapnel from the bomb tore through his legs and Reis famously helped save his father-in-law by administering first aid.
The Revs gave Reis all the time he needed to be with his family as Odom recovered, and that opened the door for Shuttleworth. He had already started four games before the bombing as Reis dealt with some nagging injuries. But with Reis away, Shuttleworth started every game until mid-August, a string of 20 straight games.
“The tragedy with the Boston Marathon and Matt being involved, it was a tough thing to go through, and a tough way to give Bobby a break but he stepped up and started doing well," Roy said. "It was not just Matt not being available. He was playing because he was doing well. When Matt first came back, he sat for a while because Bobby was doing well and it was tough to make changes. And he did well for about 15, 16 games.”
After a 3-0 loss to Kansas City, Roy decided to make a change. "It wasn’t so much that Bobby was playing bad," Roy said, "but I felt that Matt was playing really well and we had gotten some results that didn’t go our way.”
Shuttleworth only played one more game that season and finished 2013 with a very respectable 1.3 goals-against average in 23 starts. More importantly, he came away convinced he could be a first-string starting goalkeeper in MLS.
“I tried to tell myself not to be impatient and when I got the chance, to be ready," he said. "I knew coming in each year I was progressing and would have a better chance to be a No. 1. Last year, when I played 20-something games in a row, that was the most I’d ever played, maybe at any level. It was a great experience and coming into this season I knew that if played similar to the way I played that season and was able to keep that form that I’d get a long run.”
After last season Reis accepted a position as goalkeeping coach with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a move that brought him back home and closer to his and Nicole’s families. And suddenly the once-anonymous kid from the obscure college program, the guy who spent five years learning his craft, entered the season atop the depth chart.
Shuttleworth was obviously thrilled to be the Revolution’s top goalkeeper, but also sad to see his good friend leave.
“He was always very forthcoming with advice," Shuttleworth said of Reis. "He went through a similar situation early in his career when he was in L.A. and he didn’t play that much. And he’d always share as much info with me and tell me what worked for him during those times. He was definitely someone I relied on during those times.
"He would always say once you get your opportunity you take that chance and run with it I think I did that.”
In 2014 Shuttleworth started 32 regular season games, finishing in the top 10 in goals-against average (1.25), save percentage (66.7), saves (94), and shutouts (eight). But he has played his best soccer in the postseason: With the Revolution's high-octane attack, the team’s defense often gets stretched and while Shuttleworth isn’t called upon to make a lot of saves, he is often asked to make big ones.
“He makes that one big save when its zero-zero. Psychologically, that’s a big deal," said Roy. “And there were a number of games like that. I would say that’s the biggest difference in last year and this year. I always call it making a save not that could have been a goal but should have been a goal. The really good goalkeepers, you know you can count on them to make those saves when the game is close and Bobby’s done that. "He did it part of year last year but he’s doing it more consistently now.”
In the second leg of the team’s playoff tilt with Columbus, Shuttleworth made a pair of big saves to keep the game scoreless and quash any hope the Crew had of a comeback.
In the sixth minute of Sunday’s game against the Red Bulls, pacey wing Lloyd Sam got behind the New England defense and was one-on-one with Shuttleworth. It had the potential to get soldout Red Bull Arena into a frenzy and give the home team an early lead but Shuttleworth calmly came off his line to cut down Sam’s angle and parried away a low shot with a dive to his right.
And in the 58th minute, with the score tied at one, Bradley Wright-Phillips got enough space to unload a rocket but Shuttleworth was again positioned correctly and calmly played the shot wide.
“With the way we play, we’re usually going to score a lot of goals but we always say we want to keep a clean sheet first. That’s the first objective,” Shuttleworth said. “And if we can’t do that, to give them as few chances as possible because if we keep them from scoring, with our offense we’re going to win a lot of games.
"That’s my job, to come up big when they need me. And if we all keep playing the way we’re playing, we can go pretty far.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
“He’s definitely grown a lot," Roy said. "When I got here, he was very raw. A very good athlete. But I think, his knowledge of the position, he wasn’t a pro. He was a kid who came out of college early to take a chance. We started some goals for him to improve in 2010 and the big one was for him to be ready to be the starter now.
"When I came in 2010 we knew it would be four-to-five years before Bobby would get a chance. I knew I’d have Matt around for a while and Bobby knew he wouldn’t play right away and he was fortunate to have a few a years to develop.”
Shuttleworth made his professional debut late in 2010, playing six league games that season and seven more in both 2011 and 2012.
“For me, those first couple of years were just trying to learn as much as possible. Being able to learn from Matt Reis—there’s not much more I could ask for. He was a great teacher and a great friend,” Shuttleworth said. “I knew there’d be a transition and knew if I waited it out and kept training hard I’d be given an opportunity and last year I got it.”
That opportunity came last year, a little earlier than the Revolution had envisioned and only because of a tragedy. As has been well-documented, Reis’ wife Nicole ran in the Boston Marathon last April and Reis and his father-in-law John Odom were waiting at the finish line when the infamous explosions hit that year’s race. Odom was caught in the fray, as shrapnel from the bomb tore through his legs and Reis famously helped save his father-in-law by administering first aid.
The Revs gave Reis all the time he needed to be with his family as Odom recovered, and that opened the door for Shuttleworth. He had already started four games before the bombing as Reis dealt with some nagging injuries. But with Reis away, Shuttleworth started every game until mid-August, a string of 20 straight games.
“The tragedy with the Boston Marathon and Matt being involved, it was a tough thing to go through, and a tough way to give Bobby a break but he stepped up and started doing well," Roy said. "It was not just Matt not being available. He was playing because he was doing well. When Matt first came back, he sat for a while because Bobby was doing well and it was tough to make changes. And he did well for about 15, 16 games.”
After a 3-0 loss to Kansas City, Roy decided to make a change. "It wasn’t so much that Bobby was playing bad," Roy said, "but I felt that Matt was playing really well and we had gotten some results that didn’t go our way.”
Shuttleworth only played one more game that season and finished 2013 with a very respectable 1.3 goals-against average in 23 starts. More importantly, he came away convinced he could be a first-string starting goalkeeper in MLS.
“I tried to tell myself not to be impatient and when I got the chance, to be ready," he said. "I knew coming in each year I was progressing and would have a better chance to be a No. 1. Last year, when I played 20-something games in a row, that was the most I’d ever played, maybe at any level. It was a great experience and coming into this season I knew that if played similar to the way I played that season and was able to keep that form that I’d get a long run.”
After last season Reis accepted a position as goalkeeping coach with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a move that brought him back home and closer to his and Nicole’s families. And suddenly the once-anonymous kid from the obscure college program, the guy who spent five years learning his craft, entered the season atop the depth chart.
Shuttleworth was obviously thrilled to be the Revolution’s top goalkeeper, but also sad to see his good friend leave.
“He was always very forthcoming with advice," Shuttleworth said of Reis. "He went through a similar situation early in his career when he was in L.A. and he didn’t play that much. And he’d always share as much info with me and tell me what worked for him during those times. He was definitely someone I relied on during those times.
"He would always say once you get your opportunity you take that chance and run with it I think I did that.”
In 2014 Shuttleworth started 32 regular season games, finishing in the top 10 in goals-against average (1.25), save percentage (66.7), saves (94), and shutouts (eight). But he has played his best soccer in the postseason: With the Revolution's high-octane attack, the team’s defense often gets stretched and while Shuttleworth isn’t called upon to make a lot of saves, he is often asked to make big ones.
“He makes that one big save when its zero-zero. Psychologically, that’s a big deal," said Roy. “And there were a number of games like that. I would say that’s the biggest difference in last year and this year. I always call it making a save not that could have been a goal but should have been a goal. The really good goalkeepers, you know you can count on them to make those saves when the game is close and Bobby’s done that. "He did it part of year last year but he’s doing it more consistently now.”
In the second leg of the team’s playoff tilt with Columbus, Shuttleworth made a pair of big saves to keep the game scoreless and quash any hope the Crew had of a comeback.
In the sixth minute of Sunday’s game against the Red Bulls, pacey wing Lloyd Sam got behind the New England defense and was one-on-one with Shuttleworth. It had the potential to get soldout Red Bull Arena into a frenzy and give the home team an early lead but Shuttleworth calmly came off his line to cut down Sam’s angle and parried away a low shot with a dive to his right.
And in the 58th minute, with the score tied at one, Bradley Wright-Phillips got enough space to unload a rocket but Shuttleworth was again positioned correctly and calmly played the shot wide.
“With the way we play, we’re usually going to score a lot of goals but we always say we want to keep a clean sheet first. That’s the first objective,” Shuttleworth said. “And if we can’t do that, to give them as few chances as possible because if we keep them from scoring, with our offense we’re going to win a lot of games.
"That’s my job, to come up big when they need me. And if we all keep playing the way we’re playing, we can go pretty far.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
