Lamar Neagle didn’t need to read social media or poll the fans to know that he was slumping earlier this year. Now on another hot streak, he is having the best season of his MLS career and still has four matches to add to his totals. Having been through a mid-season drought, the applause felt a little louder on Saturday when he finished with one goal and one assist in a 4-2 comeback win over Chivas USA.
After matching his career-best scoring total and doubling his best assist number, it’s starting to feel like progress again for Neagle.
“Going through that slump wasn’t the best, but overall, yeah,” he said when asked if this is his best year in Seattle. “And hopefully it will get better. I hope every year I grow and develop as a player and hopefully I can keep doing that.”
After a torrid start that saw him net five goals and four assists in his first 14 matches, he was pacing toward a career-best season when he suddenly fell into a nine-match slump without scoring a goal.
Now with three goals and three assists in five matches in September, he is back on track and helping the Sounders FC offense get back into its groove as the postseason rapidly approaches. With eight goals and eight assists, it’s been a career year for Neagle, but Head Coach Sigi Schmid noted on Saturday that his improvement shows in ways well beyond the score sheet.
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“I think he is paying attention to the little things. By the little things I think he is working hard off the ball, he is defending better, and that allows him to be in position when we recover the ball to get after them because they are forgetting about him because he is all of a sudden coming from a little deeper, and then he gets forward,” Schmid said. “His runs are coming from deeper and so it is hard for them to pick him up. When he has gotten around the goal he has done well. He finished his goal well today and the better play he did was not touching the ball on the fourth goal—he was aware to not touch it.”
Neagle is catching his rhythm and the timing could not be better for Seattle. And he isn’t alone. In addition to Neagle’s five-match point streak, Clint Dempsey has seven matches with at least a goal or an assist and Obafemi Martins has three braces in the last seven matches. While Martins surpassed Sounders FC’s single-season scoring mark on Saturday, Neagle’s return to form may be just as vital to Seattle’s success down the stretch.
“I went through a streak where I didn’t have any goals or assist and now I have a few, so it’s nice leading into playoffs to start to get on a roll,” Neagle said. “Hopefully we do it as a team.”
Sounders FC meets the Colorado Rapids on Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
