MLS

• Casey's big game at New York earns him MLS Player of Week

  
  

  Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 27, the team announced on Monday.

  Casey scored three goals, including the game winner in the 90th minute, to help lift Colorado to a 5-4 victory over the New York Red Bulls Saturday night in the league's highest-scoring match of the season.

  "It's probably been a while since I scored a goal, so it feels really good," said Casey, who has eight goals this season. "It gives me a lot of confidence, but the main thing is the way the team performed entirely and the result we showed.

  It was an up and back game and we just kept fighting and the last month or so, we really made some new strides. It feels really good where we are headed." Casey scored in the 11th, 45th and 90th minutes Saturday night to record the first hat trick for the Rapids since Jeff Cunningham did it against Chivas USA over three years ago.

  This is the first Player of the Week honor for Casey and the second earned by a Colorado player since Terry Cooke earned the award in week one.

  The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel ofjournalistsfromTheNorthAmericanSoccerReporters (SoccerReporters.com).

  The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.

  Below are the 2008 MLS Player of the Week winners to date: Week 1: Terry Cooke (Colorado Rapids) Week 2: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 3: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 5: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 6: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 7: Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew) Week 8: Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 9: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire) Week 10: Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake) Week 11: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo) Week 12: Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 13: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 14: Steve Ralston (New England Revolution) Week 15: Adam Cristman (New England Revolution) Week 16: John Thorrington (Chicago Fire) Week 17: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) Week 18: Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas) Week 19: Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas) Week 20: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls) Week 21: Ronnie O?Brien (San Jose Earthquakes) Week 22: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) Week 23: Fabian Espindola (Real Salt Lake) Week 24: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) Week 25: Steve Ralston (New England Revolution) Week 26: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) Week 27: Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids)

  09/29 18:14:13 ET