by SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes announced their 2015 club award winners today, which includes forward Chris Wondolowski (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma) for Most Valuable Player, defender Clarence Goodson for Defensive Player of the Year and midfielder Shea Salinas for the Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award/Humanitarian of the Year. The Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award was created in 2008 and has been overseen and distributed by the Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation for the past seven years. Beginning in 2015, through an agreement with SSVCF, Andrew’s family and the Quakes, the award will be administered by the Earthquakes Community Fund.
Wondolowski claimed his fifth Earthquakes MVP Award since rejoining the club in 2009 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014). He leads the Earthquakes with 16 goals in 29 games, and became the first player in MLS history to score 10 or more goals in six consecutive seasons. He is also one of two players in MLS history to score 16 or more goals in four seasons. His milestone-filled year includes his 100th career MLS goal, which he scored in front of 36,224 fans at Levi’s® Stadium on May 30, and his 100th career Earthquakes goal, which he tallied as part of a brace in a 5-0 victory at Sporting Park on August 19. Wondolowski ranks fifth in MLS in goals despite spending nearly the entire month of July with the U.S. National Team at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Goodson has been the anchor of San Jose’s backline all season, starting 26 of the 30 games to date. The Quakes allowed one or fewer goals in 18 of his 26 starts, while keeping nine clean sheets. Goodson earned Team of the Week honors in Weeks 6, 17, 18, 24 and 26, becoming the first and only defender in Major League Soccer to earn the nod five times this season. Only two other defenders have even earned four MLS Team of the Week selections. Goodson has also scored twice (vs. LA on 6/27 & vs. COL on 8/14), both game winners, to become the only defender in MLS to tally multiple game-winning goals in 2015.
Salinas was previously recognized as the club’s Humanitarian of the Year (2009, 2012, 2014) and also earned the Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award in 2009. In 2015, Salinas took the lead on the club’s primary community program ‘Get Earthquakes Fit’, which promotes living a healthy lifestyle and remaining active. Salinas voluntarily attended all 10 school assemblies this season, which normally feature a different representative at each one. He has a passion for fitness and wants to help instill a strong work ethic in today’s youth. The award is named for Andrew Bedard, a young Earthquakes fan who passed away at age eight in 2004. The Bedard Spirit of the Game Award will be presented annually to the Earthquakes player that works hard in the community and best embodies Andrew’s positive attitude both on and off the field. For more information on the Andrew Bedard Spirit of the Game Award, please visit www.sjearthquakes.com/spiritofthegame/award.
