Albert Rusnák's first career hat trick has earned the Seattle Sounders FC midfielder MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra honors for Matchday 31.
The Slovakian international exploded for three goals, leading the Sounders to a 4-0 victory over 10-man Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field.
Rusnák's scoring outburst gave him 8g/12a on the year. He became just the fifth player in club history to record at least 20 goal contributions in a single season, joining Clint Dempsey, Nicolás Lodeiro, Obafemi Martins and Fredy Montero.
Rusnák is Seattle's second MLS Player of the Matchday recipient in 2024, following Raúl Ruidíaz in Matchday 8. He's now a two-time award winner, after taking Matchday 6 honors in 2017 with former club Real Salt Lake.
The Sounders will close out Matchday 32 on Sunday when hosting Western Conference rivals Sporting Kansas City at Lumen Field (7:15 pm ET | Apple TV- Free; FS1, FOX Deportes).
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra is selected each matchday 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 an X (formerly known as Twitter) fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
