Major League Soccer today announced that San Jose Earthquakes teammates Pat Onstad and Ronald Cerritos, who helped lead their team to the best record in MLS, were selected as the winners of the 2005 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and 2005 Kraft Global Fair Play awards respectively. The League also announced that the Kansas City Wizards are the winners of the Kraft Global Team Fair Play award, recognizing the team with the fewest disciplinary points during the course of the regular season.
Onstad, who earns his second Goalkeeper of the Year award in three seasons, had one of the best statistical seasons as a goalkeeper in MLS history. Along with being one of only five players to start and play in every minute of all 32 MLS regular season games (2880 minutes), the 37-year-old veteran led the League in wins (18), shutouts (12), goals against average (0.97), and save percentage (77.2 percent). With a talented group of defenders in front of him, the Canadian international served as the last line of a defense which surrendered a League-low 31 goals during the season. Onstad narrowly edged out Matt Reis of the New England Revolution while defending Goalkeeper of the Year Joe Cannon of the Colorado Rapids finished in third place in the voting. The award marks the third time in the last four years that an Earthquakes goalkeeper has earned the title.
Cerritos was the epitome of sportsmanship throughout the 2005 season and claimed the Kraft Global Fair Play award. San Jose's all-time leading goal-scorer returned to the Quakes this year after playing with Dallas, D.C. United and in his native El Salvador during the past three seasons. In 30 games played in 2005, Cerritos was only whistled for 21 fouls committed in 2,308 minutes played. Consistently one of the cleanest players in the League, Cerritos has only received one yellow card caution since the 1999 season, a span of 115 games. Justin Mapp of the Chicago Fire and D.C. United Brian Carroll finished second and third respectively.
The Wizards claimed the Kraft Global Team Fair Play award for accumulating the fewest disciplinary points during the 2005 campaign (327.5 points). Disciplinary points are assigned as follows: one point for each caution point received by a player, 10 points for each red card, 0.50 points for each foul committed, and a reduction of 15 points for every clean game in which a team does not receive either a yellow or red card nor has a player sanctioned by the MLS Disciplinary Committee.
The MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and the Kraft Global Fair play award were determined by equal voting from the media (33.33 percent), MLS players (33.33 percent) and MLS coaches and general managers (33.33 percent). With each voting category representing one-third of the total votes, the formula used for determining the award winners involved assigning 33.33 total points to each category for a possible total of 99.99 points. Therefore if a player received 50 percent of the votes in any of the three voting categories, he would earn 16.67 points (half of 33.33) for that category. The voting totals were as follows:
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year
Media |
Players |
Coach/GM |
TOTAL |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pat Onstad |
11.6 |
8.32 |
10.49 |
30.41 |
Matt Reis |
7.35 |
11.92 |
9.88 |
29.15 |
Joe Cannon |
2.94 |
4.3 |
6.48 |
1372 |
Kraft Global Fair Play - Individual
Media |
Players |
Coach/GM |
TOTAL |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ronald Cerritos |
6.0 |
5.08 |
7.04 |
18.12 |
Justin Mapp |
4.29 |
5.82 |
4.65 |
14.76 |
Brian Carroll |
4.57 |
5.43 |
2.66 |
12.66 |
Kraft Global Fair Play - Team -- Caution -- Red Card -- Fouls Com -- Clean Game --Total
Kansas City -- 168 -- 10 -- 194.5 -- -45 -- 327.5
Chicago -- 186 -- 30 -- 227 -- -90 -- 353
New England -- 237 -- 20 -- 220 -- -60 -- 417
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Winners:
2005: Pat Onstad - San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Joe Cannon - Colorado Rapids
2003: Pat Onstad - San Jose Earthquakes
2002: Joe Cannon - San Jose Earthquakes
2001: Tim Howard - MetroStars
2000: Tony Meola - Kansas City Wizards
1999: Kevin Hartman - Los Angeles Galaxy
1998: Zach Thornton - Chicago Fire
1997: Brad Friedel - Columbus Crew
1996: Mark Dodd - Dallas Burn
Kraft Global Fair Play Award - Individual Winners:
2005: Ronald Cerritos - San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Eddie Pope - MetroStars
2003: Brian McBride - Columbus Crew
2002: Mark Chung - Colorado Rapids
2001: Alex Pineda Chacon - Miami Fusion
2000: Steve Ralston - Tampa Bay Mutiny
1999: Steve Ralston - Tampa Bay Mutiny
1998: Thomas Dooley - Columbus Crew
1997: Mark Chung - Kansas City Wizards
Kraft Global Fair Play Award -Team Winners:
2005: Kansas City Wizards
2004: Columbus Crew
2003: New England Revolution
2002: Kansas City Wizards
2001: San Jose Earthquakes
2000: Tampa Bay Mutiny
1999: Columbus Crew
1998: Kansas City Wizards
1997: Columbus Crew
