NEW YORK (Monday, July 16, 2012) - San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 19 of the 2012 MLS season.
Wondolowski recorded a hat trick— the third of his MLS career — and added an assist in the Earthquakes’ 5-0 defeat of Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
Wondolowski put San Jose on the scoring sheet first, heading the ball into the back of the net in the 18th minute off of a deflection from a corner kick. In the 72nd minute, Wondolowski stuck his toe out on a Shea Salinas cross to nab his second of the game, putting the Earthquakes ahead 3-0. To cap off the night in the 80th minute, Wondolowski made a run from outside of the penalty area, gathered the ball and slotted it in the left corner to make it 5-0.
Just 11 days after nabbing MLS’s Player of the Month for June, Wondolowski has garnered his fourth career Player of the Week award and his second Player of the Week honor in 2012. Through 20 San Jose matches, Wondolowski has notched 17 goals, and is on pace to finish the season with 29 strikes, which would break the League’s single-season goal-scoring record (27) set by Roy Lassiter in the inaugural MLS campaign in 1996.
With a 12-4-4 record and 40 points, Wondolowski’s Earthquakes are currently four points in front of both Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake in the Supporters Shield race.
The Earthquakes are back in action on Wednesday, July 18 at Buck Shaw Stadium against FC Dallas. Kickoff is 8 p.m. PT on NBC Sports, 1590 KLIV and 1370 KZSF.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. More information and membership information can be found at http://www.soccerreporters.com/.
