San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski has been named Major League Soccer Player of the Week for the week of April 30-May 6, as voted on by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).
Wondolowski earned nine of 21 first-place votes following a week in which he tallied three goals over a pair of games to increase his league-leading season total to 11 through just 10 matches. The Quakes striker first posted his third two-goal brace already of 2012 in a 5-3 home victory over D.C. United on May 2, before opening the scoring in the 15th minute of a 2-1 defeat at Vancouver Whitecaps FC on May 5.
Wondolowski now leads the Budweiser Golden Boot race by two goals over Thierry Henry of the New York Red Bulls. The MLS Player of the Month for April, as announced on May 2, enters Week 10 on the longest active streak in the league of games with either a goal or an assist, at a career-best eight.
This is the second Player of the Week selection of the 2012 season for a Quakes player, and second straight. Wondolowski’s strike partner, Steven Lenhart, earned the honor for Week 8 after scoring twice in just 30 minutes off the bench to lead the Quakes to a 2-1 stoppage-time win at Philadelphia on April 28. Wondolowski now has three Player of the Week recognitions for his career, with two previous awards coming late in the 2010 campaign.
For the week, Wondolowski beat out the likes of Western Conference foes Alvaro Saborio of Real Salt Lake and Mauro Rosales of Seattle Sounders FC, who each garnered three first-place votes.
