Mon Jun 30 18:09:38 2008

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Ralston's brace earns him POW

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New York, NY (Sports Network) - New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 14, it was announced on Monday.

Ralston scored both goals in the Revolution's 2-1 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday in a victory that improved the Revolution to 9-4-3.

Ralston got the Revs got on the board early when quick combination play between Kheli Dube and Mauricio Castro resulted in a cross from Dube to the near post. After Revolution forward Adam Cristman nodded the ball toward goal, it ricocheted off the far post to Ralston, who tapped home.

"As long as these guys keep hitting the ball at the post I will be there," Ralston said. "It's just an asset. Three goals I have gotten were rebounds off the post. [I] just try to get in good place and good spots, follow up the play and if I can get into something that's great. I was pretty fortunate and was trying to be in a dangerous place and those guys did a great job. Kheli had a great shot and it would have been a great goal, but it hit the upper corner on the post and ran right at my feet."

The Revolution would double their lead in the 59th minute after a wild flurry in front of goal. Dube collected a long cross on the right side of the penalty area and fired a shot that hit the crossbar and landed at Ralston's feet. He took several touches to maneuver around Toronto FC defenders before striking a left-footed shot off the inside of the right post. The goal, Ralston's team- leading sixth of the season, put New England ahead for good.

"[Steve Ralston] just shows all the experience that he has the two goals in particular where he follows up," revs coach Steve Nicol said. "You talk to your strikers about following up and they don't all do it. He's not even a striker but he reads it well; he doesn't just take for granted that it is going to go in the net or go wide and he follows it up. That is just experience. The second one was just again experience - cool head - people diving in he stays calm and puts it away."

A Revolution own goal in the 78th minute closed out the scoring.

This is the second time Ralston has received the player of the week award. He captured the award in Week 8 of the 1997 season with the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). Full disclosure of the votes can be found at www.soccerreporters.com.

Below are the 2008 MLS Player of the Week winners to date:

Week 1: Terry Cooke (Colorado Rapids)

Week 2: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 3: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)

Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 5: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 6: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 7: Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Week 8: Edson Buddle (Los Angles Galaxy)

Week 9: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire)

Week 10: Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Week 11: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

Week 12: Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 13: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 14: Steve Ralston (New England Revolution)