Soccer Trash Talk

Mon Sep 15 18:14:39 2008

Ralston wins second MLS POW of season

New York, NY (Sports Network) - New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 25, it was announced on Monday.

Ralston had a goal and two assists as New England defeated Chivas USA 4-0 this past Thursday after missing New England's last three games with back spasms.

Following a scoreless first half, Ralston combined with fellow St. Louis native Taylor Twellman in the 53rd minute for the game's first goal.

"I just made a diagonal run on the right and Taylor played a great ball, and the centering pass I think might have taken a little deflection but it ended up right in front of him, and Taylor just gets in front of the goal all the time and it was a great finish," Ralston said.

Ralston got an assist when Jeff Larentowicz put New England ahead 2-0 in the 83rd minute before Twellman and Ralston combined again in the 93rd minute on the fourth and final goal of the night. Twellman sent a 50-yard pass across the field from the right wing setting up Ralston, who cut inside from the left wing, switched the ball onto his right foot and curled a shot that hit the inside of the right goal post and bounced into the net for his seventh goal of the season.

"It's been a while for us I think being on this side of it and it's a much better feeling," Ralston said of the 4-0 victory. "It's nice just to be able to get three points. It's been a while since we've won a game so you know we feel like we are finally getting our legs back and we can kind of move forward and get something going here."

This is Ralston's second player of the week award this season and the third of his career. He last won the award in Week 14 of this season after scoring both goals in the Revs' 2-1 victory over Toronto FC.

The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (SoccerRep[orters.com). The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.

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 Angeles Galaxy)

Week 9: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire)

Week 10: Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Week 11: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)