TUKWILA, Wash. – Going into his first professional season, one of the goals Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris set for himself was to win the MLS Rookie of the Year award.
He’s officially achieved that objective following Thursday’s announcement that he was named the recipient of this season’s RoY honors, coming out on top of a field that also included Philadelphia Union defender Keegan Rosenberry and NYCFC midfielder Jack Harrison.
“It feels good,” Morris said after Seattle’s training session on Thursday. “Just to be in the company of two other great players was awesome. It’s a huge honor.”
“It’s been a long season, and you come in and you hear about hitting a wall sometimes, and obviously it’s been tough and there’s been some ups and downs. But I never really felt too worn out or anything like that. The college season goes by too fast, so it’s nice to be constantly playing games and doing what you love.”
Morris’ inaugural MLS campaign wasn’t without its obstacles, though.
After entering the league as one of the most highly touted rookies in the league's history, he went scoreless through his first five matches. The Sounders also lost the services of star forward Clint Dempsey to an irregular heartbeat in August, just as he and Morris had begun to strike up impressive on-field chemistry.
Morris overcame the challenges, bagging a team-high 12 goals – an MLS rookie record for an American-born player and putting him second all-time among rookie scorers – and tallying four assists. All told, it was a rookie season that Sounders captain Brad Evans pointed to as one of the key elements of Seattle’s remarkable surge during the second half of the season that has seen them advance all the way to the Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Rapids.
“I said it 15 games into the season: I thought that he could have had 15 goals,” Evans said. “I think if he was in the form that he is now for the first 10-15 games, he probably bangs 25 goals. That’s the reality of it. In saying that, it’s well deserved.
“Obviously, without him, we’re not in the position we’re in now.”
The next item on the agenda for the Sounders will be getting their standout rookie healthy. Morris strained his hamstring during the second leg of Seattle’s Western Conference semifinal matchup against FC Dallas, a knock that will keep him out of the US Men’s national team’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Mexico on Friday and at Costa Rica on Tuesday.
Ahead of his team’s matchup against Colorado, Morris said his focus is on making sure he’s on the field as the Sounders try to make a run at their first MLS Cup.
“Obviously, I’m dealing with the hamstring a little bit but it’s getting better every day,” he said. “Hopefully it continues to get better. …[The trainers] have just said that it’s day-to-day and we’ll go from there.”
