Bradley Wright-Phillips sure has this hat trick thing down pat.
Wright-Phillips enjoyed his third three-goal outing of the 2014 season on Saturday night, scoring in three different ways to inspire his New York Red Bulls to a 4-1 thumping of the league-leading Seattle Sounders. The veteran set the tone for the win by scoring on a rebound 30 seconds in, then added a penalty kick in the second half before one-timing a low cross from the left into the back of the net with his final play of the game in the 58th minute.
The impressive perfomance not only gave the Englishman 24 goals on the year and a good shot at breaking MLS' all-time single-season scoring record, but also saw him unanimously voted Week 28's MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer reporters. Wright-Phillips is the fifth player to win the award with a unanimous vote, and it's his second second Player of the Week nod after he earned it back in Week 8 with his first hat trick of the season.
The last player to be voted the MLS Player of the Week by a unanimous decision was Sounders forward Clint Dempsey back in Week 6.
2014 MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Week 28: Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)
- Week 27: Blas Perez (FC Dallas)
- Week 26: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
- Week 25: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
- Week 24: Obafemi Martins (Seattle Sounders)
- Week 23: Tesho Akindele (FC Dallas)
- Week 22: Chris Schuler (Real Salt Lake)
- Week 21: Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
- Week 20: Yannick Djalo (San Jose Earthquakes)
- Week 19: Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City)
- Week 18: Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls)
- Week 17: Erick Torres (Chivas USA)
- Week 16: Jack McInerney (Montreal Impact)
- Week 15: Luis Silva (D.C. United)
- Week 14: Fanendo Adi (Portland Timbers)
- Week 13: Deshorn Brown (Colorado Rapids)
- Week 12: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
- Week 11: Federico Higuaín (Columbus Crew)
- Week 10: Harry Shipp (Chicago Fire)
- Week 9: Joao Plata (Real Salt Lake)
- Week 8: Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)
- Week 7: Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
- Week 6: Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders)
- Week 5: Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders)
- Week 4: Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)
- Week 3: Bernardo Añor (Columbus Crew)
- Week 2: Jermain Defoe (Toronto FC)
- Week 1: Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)