Tuesday, September 9, 2002

 

TAMPA, FL - United Soccer Leagues announced the statistical award winners for the 2003 A-League season today, honoring Milwaukee's Greg Howes, Montreal's Greg Sutton and Pittsburgh's Thiago Martins and Ricardo Villar.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds forward Thiago Martins ran away with the Scoring and Goal Scoring Championships this season with 22 goals and seven assists for 51 points. He finished the season 13 points clear of Rochester's Doug Miller and four goals ahead of Virginia Beach's Dante Washington in the two respective tables. Martins played in 25 games (2,169 minutes) for the 'Hounds and finished tied for seventh on the league assist table.

Martins is the first player to win the A-League Scoring Championship from a team that did not reach the postseason since 1990 when Chance Fry posted 39 points for the 10-10 Seattle Storm. Current Portland Timbers player Scott Benedetti is the only other player to accomplish the feat, recording 16 points for the 1-11 FC Portland in 1988.

Martins' teammate Ricardo Villar finished in a tie for the Assist Leader honor with Milwaukee Wave United forward Greg Howes with 12 on the season.

The second-year Villar posted just one assist last season in addition to four goals in 21 games (1,345 minutes) for the Hampton Roads Mariners. This season with the Riverhounds, Villar became the team playmaker, logging 2,181 minutes and was one of 24 players in the league to play in all 28 games. He was the second leading scorer on the team with his four goals giving him 20 points on the year. Villar also set up Martins for the club's lone goal in their 2-1 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup loss to DC United in the Third Round of the tournament.

Fourth-year forward Greg Howes helped lead Milwaukee Wave United to the regular season championship not only with his league-leading assist total, but his fifth-ranked 11 goals this season to finish fourth in the league in points.

Milwaukee is Howes' third club in four A-League campaigns after playing for Seattle in 2000 and Portland the last two seasons. In his rookie season, Howes took the league by storm, finishing tied for the league lead in goals (17) and winning the Rookie of the Year honor. He also had five assists in 2000 for 41 points, which ranked in a tie for third with then teammate Darren Sawatzky. His goal production dropped off with the move south to rival Portland, where he posted just 12 goals and 11 assists combined over the last two seasons. He has also been a member of the MISL Milwaukee Wave club over the last three year's, recording 96 goals.

The Montreal Impact finished with the league's lowest goals allowed total (21) with Greg Sutton winning the Goalkeeper of the Year honor for his league-leading 0.73 goals-against average this season. In addition, Sutton logged the most minutes in goal in the league. He also finished tied with Charleston's Dusty Hudock for the league lead in shutouts with 11 on the season and tied Minnesota's Joseph Warren for the most wins on the year with 15.

Since joining the league in 1999, Sutton has steadily improved. In his first season, he posted a 1.41 GAA in four games with the Indiana Blast and Lehigh Valley Steam. In Cincinnati the following year, it ballooned to 2.19 for a 13-game average. He finally found a solid defensive club to play for in 2001 when he joined the Impact, recording a 1.30 GAA through 17 games in 2001 and a 0.99 mark through 26 games last year.

USL will announce the two All-League Teams on Thursday, September 11. Leading up to the A-League Championship on Saturday, September 20, USL will announce the Defender, Rookie and Coach of the Year award winners on Tuesday, September 16 and the Most Valuable Player on Wednesday, September 17.