It's easy being green. Especially on St. Patrick's Day.
Seattle Sounders striker David Estrada has been voted the MLS Player of the Week for Week 2 by the North American Soccer Reporters after scoring a hat trick in the Rave Green's 3-1 victory over Toronto FC in their league opener. It's the first time Estrada has won the honors in his three-year MLS career.
The UCLA product opened the Sounders' scoring in the 17th minute on Saturday, poking away a loose ball after a mad scramble in front of Milos Kocic's goal, before adding a second in the 51st minute. Estrada completed his hat trick in the 63rd minute, moments after TFC's Ryan Johnson fired home his AT&T Goal of the Week candidate to make the score 2-1.
In addition to his hat trick on Saturday – the third in Sounders history – Estrada headed away the opener in the first leg of Seattle's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal tie against Santos Laguna, giving him four of the team's six goals across all competitions this season.
Estrada also becomes the third player in MLS history to score three or more goals in a season opener, joining Jason Kreis (1999 for the Dallas Burn) and Brian Ching (2006 for the Houston Dynamo) in the record book.
