First of all, go vote for the AT&T Goal of the Year and Degree Men Save of the Year awards. Both
Arnaud and Lopez are up twice for the Goal of the Year honor and Hartman is up three times for the
Save of the Year award. You can find links to the highlights of these plays at previous posts
below.
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The big Zach attack. (AP Photo)
Readers of this blog didn't agree, but Chivas USA's Zach Thornton was named MLS Goalkeeper of
the Year today, 11 years after first taking the honor with the Chicago Fire.
That time span between awards was undoubtedly one of the reasons the 34-year-old took the honor,
beating out the Galaxy's Donovan Ricketts and Seattle Sounders veteran Kasey Keller (both in their
first MLS seasons).
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The Back Post 04 November @ 10:47 AM EST
Save of the year voting is now open. Wizards keeper Kevin Hartman is nominated 3 times. Week 8,
week 11 and my favorite week 32.Go vote for Kevin!!
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Year end award nominees are coming out, and while no Wizards players are up the big awards, 3
Wizards are nominated for 2 awards.
Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are both up twice for goal of the year. Arnaud's first blast against
Toronto on the opening week of the season is one of his two nominated goals.
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Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman has three nominees up for the Degree Men Save of the Year honor. His stops
from Week 8, Week 11 and Week 32 are among 40 nominees for the award. Go vote here to help narrow
the field to the top 10 saves of the year for another round of voting. The top 10 saves will be
announced November 11.
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The Wizards have handed out their year end awards, and it's now time for me to hand out my end of
the year awards to Wizards players. I'm going to hand out the same awards I did last year, I'm also
adding a Performance of the Year award to the best single game performance by a player this
season.
Rookie of the Year
Matt Besler
Not really a surprise, it was either going to be Besler or Graham Zusi getting this years award,
and I don't think that Zusi got enough time this year to be considered for the award.
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Yeah I'm almost a week behind on this, but was thinking the team may actually announce more winners
than just MVP, Golden Boot and Humanitarian of the Year. Anyways, this year, the award winners
consisted of 2 players, Josh Wolff and Jimmy Conrad.
Wolff won both the MVP award and the Golden Boot.
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Before the last game, a few players and front office people came out to the tailgates to socialize
and drop off some "refreshments". Adam Cristman is injuried so he was out there...Kevin Souter,
currently on the DL and doing a great job as a fill in broadcaster stopped by also. Here is posing
with Mike of Down the Byline fame.
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Marquess and Besler chasing down Gomez who is sporting the huge bandage.Kevin Hartman directing the
defense...Shot goes wide past the KC goal...Wolff taking a shot while being tackled in the
box...Fred blocks the shot with his arm. This only feeds the Wizards fans calling them Handball
United...The ball just bounced off of Fred's arm and Roger already asking for the call.
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Let's just post the press release:
Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman received MLS Save of the Week honors for the final
week of the 2009 MLS regular season for an outstanding save to deny D.C. United's Ben Olsen.
Hartman won two MLS Save of the Week awards on the season, taking home the honor in Week 11 and
Week 32.
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Kevin receiving the mounted jersey and gloves to commemorate setting the All Time Saves record
early in the year.As soon as Kevin spoke in the interview I could tell he was a speaking with
emotion. It was obvious that the season being over and missing the playoffs pained him. He speaks
candidly about the team and himself.
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Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman finished the season in style, ranking 2nd in MLS in saves on the year with
105. His acrobatic recovery to deny a rebound effort from Ben Olsen Saturday has him up for the MLS
Save of the Week honor once again. He won the award in Week 11, but has 't captured the "trophy"
since.
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Previous Updates
#1 4/12 68 players remaining #2 5/25 34 players remaining #3 6/25 23 players remaining #4 7/19 11
players remaining #5
8/17
5 players remaining
OTFATT is short for "On the field, all the time." In these updates throughout the season, I've kept
track of which MLS players have played every minute of every game (regular season only).
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Vote for Kevin for Save of the Week. His jumping across the goal and knocking a shot over the top
was incredible.Here is Kevin giving directions to his defense...
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Not surprisingly, Kevin Hartman's diving save on Ben Olsen is up for Save of the Week. It's an
absolutely amazing save. Check the save out here. And vote for it here.
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Wow, what a save by Hartman around the 2:18 mark!
This announcer needs to trademark is line, "It's in the NET... It's in the NET!"
JM
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Kevin Hartman made his 100th start in all competitions for the Wizards. He's the 19th Wizard to hit
that mark.
The 33 goals scored by the Wizards in league play, ties for the lowest goal output in team history.
The 1999 and the 2001 Wizards both scored 33 league goals.
Claudio Lopez's goal was his 13th in league play for the Wizards, moving him into a tie for 12th
place all time with Matt McKeon, Jose Burciaga, and Sasha Victorine.
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The Wizards ended the 2009 season without a playoff berth, but they went out by helping to kill DC
United's season. Along with other results around the league, KC's 2-2 draw with DC last night
eliminated DC from making the playoffs as well. A late penalty kick by Claudio Lopez proving to be
the tying goal.
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Well, the comeback was a nice one that severely hampers D.C. United's playoff hopes. Claudio's
stoppage-time PK sent the crowd here at CAB into a frenzy on Fan Appreciation Night. Check out the
notables below for more, including info on Kamara's first goal for KC and Zusi's first MLS
assist.
Notables:
• Kansas City finished the season 0-1-2 against D.
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Kansas City dropped a 3-2 result to Seattle Sounders FC tonight at CAB after falling behind early
and surrendering a late lead. The Wizards had been eliminated from playoff contention earlier in
the day by other results but could have put Seattle's playoff future in question with a win. As it
turned out, Sounders FC clinched a playoff berth after a great performance from Designated Player
and #10 Freddie Ljungberg.
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Lots of stuff for Wolff again this week, who is having a career year in terms of goals and minutes
played.
Josh Wolff's goal was his 11th of the season, a career high in MLS play for Wolff.
Wolff's goal was his 73rd in MLS play in his career, tying him with Edson Buddle for 13th all time.
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It took a lot longer than I think many people expected it to, but the Wizards are now officially
eliminated from the playoff race. The Wizards were eliminated before they even took the field
against Seattle after Toronto's win over Salt Lake yesterday. Still it wouldn't have mattered, as
the Wizards blew another lead and once again lost at home, this time to Seattle, 3-2 last night.
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It seems to be an every week occurance, but once again, Kevin Hartman is up for Save of the Week
this week for his finger tip save on Maykel Galindo Chivas USA in the Wizards 2-0 loss. Check out
the save here, and go vote.
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It'll take a full on miracle, but some how the Wizards are still alive in the race to get into the
playoffs, but after last night's performance in LA, those hopes are basically gone. Needing a win,
KC laid an egg and lost 2-0 to Chivas USA. On a night when Columbus even gave KC a helping hand by
defeating New England (that win is what is keeping the Wizards faint playoff hopes alive).
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The Wizards fell to Chivas USA 2-0 tonight, limiting our faint chances for the MLS Cup Playoffs.
With Columbus beating NE earlier in the day, we had a chance to pull within three points of the
final playoff spot but could not get three points at The Home Depot Center, something that is never
easy for the road team.
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Here's your stat fix for the week. Lots of land mark appearances this week.
Claudio Lopez made his 50th start for the Wizards in MLS play.
Lopez's assist on Zoltan Hercegfalvi's goal was his 15th for the Wizards in league play, tying him
with Chris Henderson for 13th place on that list.
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It's getting close to just saying "let's prepare for 2010". After today's result down in Houston,
the Wizards playoff hopes get even more faint. Up a man for over 70 minutes, the Wizards had to
fight back from a goal down to salvage a draw against the Houston Dynamo this afternoon.
KC came out and tried to push the game from the start getting into Houston's end multiple times
early on.
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Our boys came back from a 1-0 deficit to tie Houston today at Robertson Stadium, but three points
were really needed to put us back into the picture for the MLS Cup Playoffs. We're six points
behind New England with three games remaining, but there are four teams between us and the Revs.
Zoltan scored a beautiful goal for his first in a KC uniform, and Lopez recorded his 8th assist of
the season on the play.
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After watching the Palos Verdes Peninsula's Kevin Hartman, the former Galaxy goalkeeper, and
Lawndale's Kei Kamara, who was playing against former club Houston, help Kansas City to a 1-1 draw
today against the Dynamo, I'd be remiss in not acknowledging the exploits of another South Bay boy
this weekend.
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Kevin Hartman is once again up for MLS Save of the Week for his outstanding diving stop of an Omar
Cummings blast from the top of the penalty area. Right now Dario Sala of FCD is running away with
the voting...make your votes count.
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Once again, Wizards goalkeeper, Kevin Hartman is up for the Save of the Week this week. This week
the save is Hartman's first half stop on Omar Cummings, after Cummings had cut inside on Jimmy
Conrad and Michael Harrington. Check out the save here, and vote here.
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Today, Wizards players and staff members and children from nearby New Stanley Elementary School
took part in a clean-up event at Ruby Park in KCK called "Greener Goals". As part of the event,
players and children painted a mural on a concrete wall under a bridge, picked up trash, painted
benches, painted lines on a basketball court and played soccer with one another.
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The Wizards are done playing for the month of September, which means it's time to decide who is
this month's player of the month. The Wizards went 3-1-1 in the month of September. Much better
than the team's winless September. This month there are a few players that are certainly in the
conversation for player of the month.
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For the first time this season, Herculez Gomez did not appear in a game for the Wizards. Up until
last night, Gomez had appeared in all 25 league games and all 5 in the Wizards other
competitions.
Kei Kamara appeared in his 100th game in all competitions in him MLS career last night.
In the 38th minute, Claudio Lopez hit the 5,000 minute mark in all competitions for the Wizards.
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