After exploding for a hat trick that vaulted him into the Golden Boot presented by Audi race lead, D.C. United forward Ola Kamara has been named MLS Player of the Week for Week 25.
The Norwegian veteran spearheaded his team's commanding 3-0 win over Chicago Fire FC at Audi Field on Wednesday, striking for all three goals in the first half. That trio gives Kamara a league-leading 16 goals, two clear of Seattle's Raul Rudiaz atop the Golden Boot standings.
Kamara's first goal came just nine minutes into the contest, earning the spot-kick himself after drawing a foul in the Chicago box on Carles Teran.
Kamara added his second from the spot in the 35th minute after teammate Kevin Paredes won another penalty when Jhon Espinoza was called for bringing him down in his own area.
He's now converted a career-high seven penalties this season, two short of the single-season MLS record of nine shared by LAFC star Carlos Vela and D.C. United legend Jaime Moreno.
Finally, Kamara added his team's third and final goal right on the stroke of halftime, cashing home a flicked header off a pinpoint cross from Julian Gressel that allowed D.C. to cruise to their 10th victory of the season. Hernan Losada's group is now in the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 10W-10L-4D record and 10 matches left to play.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of the vote. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
