Major League Soccer today announced that San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Dwayne De Rosario has won the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year award for the second year in a row. De Rosario garnered 36.51 percent of the over 45,000 final round votes cast by fans to beat out the other four finalists - Carlos Ruiz, Clint Dempsey, Jason Kreis and Freddy Adu.
De Rosario's goal on October 15 against the Los Angeles Galaxy came on a masterful free kick from 25 yards out in the Earthquakes' final regular season game of the year at The Home Depot Center. Just before the stroke of halftime, De Rosario blasted a free kick from the right side of the Galaxy goal, sending a curving shot around the outside of the wall of Galaxy players as it rocketed past the helpless arms of Los Angeles goalkeeper Kevin Hartman into the top right corner of the net.
De Rosario, who also took home the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year title in 2004, is only the second player in the history of Major League Soccer to win the award twice (D.C. United's Marco Etcheverry achieved the feat in 1997 and 1999) and the only player to win the award in back-to-back seasons. The Canadian midfield dynamo is a finalist for this year's Honda MVP award for leading San Jose to the League's best record during the regular season with nine goals and 13 assists. The other two MVP finalists are New England Revolution striker Taylor Twellman and D.C. United forward Jaime Moreno. The 2005 Honda MVP award winner will be named on Thursday live on ESPNEWS at 4:00 p.m. ET (3:00 p.m. CT).
Sierra Mist Goal of the Year Winners
2005: Dwayne De Rosario - San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Dwayne De Rosario - San Jose Earthquakes
2003: Damani Ralph - Chicago Fire
2002: Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy
2001: Clint Mathis - MetroStars
2000: Marcelo Balboa - Colorado Rapids
1999: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United
1998: Brian McBride - Columbus Crew
1997: Marco Etcheverry - D.C. United
1996: Eric Wynalda - San Jose Clash
