COLUMBUS – Columbus Crew SC today announced that forward Gyasi Zardes was voted Alcatel Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters for Week 11 of the 2018 MLS season. It is the first Player of the Week honor for Zardes, as well as the first such honor for the Black & Gold this season.
Zardes earned the award for Week 11, after playing two matches in four days and scoring three goals. Zardes scored the game-winning goal the 1-0 home victory over the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.
Three days later, the 26-year-old registered a brace in Saturday's 3-0 win over the Chicago Fire at MAPFRE Stadium. His 70th-minute strike is nominated for MLSSoccer.com’s AT&T Goal of the Week. Zardes’ performance against Chicago marked the second time he's scored two goals in 2018 — notching two in the 3-2 home win over the Montreal Impact on March 10.
Through 12 matches, Zardes has eight goals and is tied with Atlanta United FC's Josef Martinez atop the MLS Golden Boot race. Zardes’ 2018 mark is his highest output since 2014 (16 goals in total with the LA Galaxy).
Additionally, Zardes is the only player start every match for Crew SC and currently leads the team in minutes (1,058), goals, shots (26) and shots on target (13). His two game-winning goals tie him with Federico Higuain for most on the team.
This is the 53rd time that a Crew SC player has been named MLS Player of the Week. Zardes joins Higuain (three times) as the only active players to earn the weekly honor while a member of Crew SC.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from the NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
The Black & Gold continue their campaign by traveling to Gillette Stadium to face the New England Revolution on Saturday.
