Twellman Named Player of the Week
Published on September 9, 2002 under Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release
NEW YORK (Monday, September 9, 2002) - New England Revolution forward Taylor Twellman has been selected as Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for the week ending September 8, 2002. Twellman notched a natural hat trick to lead the Revolution past D.C. United 3-0 Saturday night in a must-win game at Gillette Stadium.
Twellman's outburst bumped his season totals to 45 points on 20 goals and five assists, helping him draw even with the Los Angeles Galaxy's Carlos Ruiz (22g, 1a = 45 pts) at the top of the League's Budweiser Scoring chart. With the three tallies, his 18th, 19th and 20th of the campaign, the 22-year old Twellman posted his first career hat trick and set a new club record for goals in a season, surpassing Raul Diaz Arce's mark of 18 set in 1998.
Ironically, Twellman's performance mirrors almost exactly the feats of Ruiz from a week ago, as it was the Galaxy's 22-year old Guatemalan striker who claimed Player of the Week honors on September 3 for his natural hat trick (also the first of his MLS career) in a 3-0 win against the MetroStars. That outburst also featured Ruiz's 18th, 19th and 20th goals of the season.
With his club fighting valiantly to stay in contention for a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs, Twellman started the one-man show in the 63rd minute when he pounced on a rebound from a Steve Ralston shot that struck the post and slotted home what would turn out to be the game-winning goal. The St. Louis native doubled the lead 12 minutes later when he raced behind the United defense and beat United goalkeeper Nick Rimando again to make the score 2-0. Twellman finished his evening in spectacular style with a brilliant one-on-one move past Rimando in stoppage time.
Twellman outdistanced Ruiz to win his second Player of the Week award, an honor which is selected every Monday throughout the season by a panel of journalists from PSRA.
Major League Soccer Stories from September 9, 2002
- L.A. Galaxy Weekly Update - LA Galaxy
- Earthquakes Weekly Update - San Jose Earthquakes
- Wizards in U.S. Open Cup Semifinals Tuesday in Columbus - Sporting Kansas City
- Dallas Burn Weekly - FC Dallas
- Fire Weekly Update - Chicago Fire FC
- Twellman Named Player of the Week - MLS
- First 6,000 Kids 16 & Under Receive Free Rapids Soccer Ball - Colorado Rapids
- MetroStars Weekly Report - New York Red Bulls
- MLS Wins Player Arbitration - MLS
- Crew Hosts K.C. In U.S. Open Cup Semis Tuesday - Columbus Crew SC
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