NEW YORK - D.C. United midfielder Ben Olsen was selected as Major League Soccer's Player of the Week after leading his team to a 4-2 win over New York Red Bulls. Olsen registered his first career hat trick and helped United win despite playing a man down for the final 30 minutes.
Olsen netted his first goal of the game and his second of the season when he dove to head a Josh Gros cross in the 15th minute. Three minutes later, the Red Bulls evened the score 1-1 on Dema Kovelenko's deflected strike.
Luciano Emilio put D.C. ahead, 2-1, in the 49th minute. About 10 minutes later, United defender Bobby Boswell received his second yellow card. Olsen scored goals in the 72nd and 84th minutes to put the game out of New York's reach. Olsen scored his second goal of the afternoon when he collected Brian Carroll's pass into the penalty area, cut behind a sliding defender and hit a shot that found its way past goalkeeper Ronald Watterus and a late-lunging defender. Olsen's third tally came on a daring volley from 25 yards out after a feed from Jaime Moreno.
Now in his 10th MLS season, Olsen has recorded 25 goals and 42 assists during his career. Olsen also received the MLS Player of the Week accolade in Week 4 of 2000. A member of two MLS Cup Champion teams (1999 and 2004), Olsen has been named to the MLS All-Star team twice, in 1998 and 1999.
The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA).
2007 Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Jeff Cunningham (Real Salt Lake)
Week 2: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 3: Maykel Galindo (Chivas USA)
Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 5: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)
Week 6: Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)
Week 7: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls)
Week 8: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 9: Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards)
Week 10: Ben Olsen (D.C. United)
