DIEGO FAGUNDEZ’S BASEMENT bedroom looks just like what you’d expect from a soccer-crazy 19-year-old. Along the staircase, framed team and player photos line the walls, and a New England Revolution jersey hangs in a corner. In the room itself, soccer balls litter the carpet, sneakers and cleats sit in rows, and there are even more photos, from both on the field and off. Facing Fagundez’s neatly made bed, there’s a flat-screen TV hooked up to an Xbox that he and his buddies use to play FIFA soccer video games. The only difference between this room and that of your average teenager is that almost all of Fagundez’s stuff — the photos, the news clippings, even one of the video games — features him.
Fagundez lives a kind of double life. At work, he is a star midfielder for the New England Revolution, the team that put him in his first pro game at just 16 (he promptly scored). His 13 goals last season weren’t just the most of anyone on the Revs, they were the most by a teenager in a single season in the history of Major League Soccer. The slim kid with the mohawk and an easy smile has quickly become a fan favorite and the face of a resurgent team.
But at home in Leominister, where he’s lived for more than a decade, Fagundez is pretty much like any other teenager. He hangs out with the same friends he met when he was 5 and has been dating the same girl, now a high school senior, for years. Although he recently earned his diploma from Goodrich Academy in Fitchburg, which let him study around his playing schedule, he still helped his girlfriend with her science fair project. He loves fishing on nearby Shirley Pond and eating bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch soaked in chocolate milk. Although he reportedly made around $127,000 last season, he has very little interest in moving out of his parents’ basement.
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