Columbus Crew SC today announced forward Gyasi Zardesas the winner of both the Club's Acura Most Valuable Player award and the Golden Boot award.
Zardes, who was named the 2018 MLS Comeback Player of the Year, led the Club with 19 regular season goals, a personal career high and more than any other American in Major League Soccer. In addition to goals, the 27-year-old led Columbus in four other categories including game-winning goals (4) and minutes played (2,948).
Zardes' 17 home goals led the League and moved him into third place on Crew SC’s list of most goals scored in a single MLS regular season, behind only Stern John (26 goals in 1998) and Kei Kamara (22 goals in 2015). Zardes' previous single-season career high of 16 regular-season goals was match in Crew SC's 2-1 win over Colorado on Sept. 22, 2018, which also marked the date of Zardes' 50th career MLS goal.
This season, Zardes won MLSSoccer.com's Team of the Week four times (Weeks 2, 11, 24, 35), while also being named the Alcatel MLS Player of the Week on two occasions (Weeks 11, 35). Notably, Zardes capped off the regular season with his first professional career hat trick in a 3-2 win against Minnesota United FC at MAPFRE Stadium on Oct. 28.
