Revolution captain garners award following multiple-goal performance against Toronto on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston was voted Major League Soccer’s Player of the Week following his two-goal performance in the Revolution’s 2-1 victory over Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, June 28. The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters.
Ralston’s two-goal effort Saturday was his fifth career multi-goal game and the first by a Revs player this season. A 13-year MLS veteran, Ralston has scored five goals in the Revolution’s last five games and currently leads the club with six goals.
The Revolution captain netted his first goal of Saturday’s match in the 12th minute, tapping in the rebound from teammate Adam Cristman’s header that deflected off the post. His second goal – which would prove to be his MLS-best fourth game-winner of the season and later be nominated for Sierra Mist Goal of the Week – came in the 59th minute when he corralled the rebound from a Kheli Dube shot off the cross bar and faked out a pair of Toronto defenders before placing the ball past Toronto goalkeeper Brian Edwards.
A six-time MLS All-Star, this is Ralston’s second career MLS Player of the Week award. Eleven years ago, in Week 8 of the 1997 season, Ralston won his only other player of the week award after a two-goal effort –including the game-winner with four seconds left - in a 2-1 victory over Colorado on May 10, 1997.
Ralston and the Revolution travel to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Friday, July 4 at 10:30 p.m. ET at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. TV38 will televise the game live, while Cox 3 in Rhode Island will simulcast TV38’s broadcast.
