New England Revolution forward Pat Noonan was named the Honda MLS Player of the Week by the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA) for the week ending June 6, 2004 (Week 10). Noonan scored three goals in the 3-2 Revolution victory over the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday, June 2. By scoring off a header, with his left foot, and then with his right foot, Noonan registered his second career hat trick and raised his season tally to five goals. He is the first player in Revs history to record two career hat tricks.
"It (the hat trick) was nice because I had great support here tonight," Noonan said after the game. "There were 30, 40 people - a lot of my sister's friends, her team and my parents and family and cousins - so it was good to have them in the stands with a victory for the Revs."
The Revs took an early lead Wednesday night in the 16th minute of the game when Steve Ralston played a cross in from the left wing. After Wizards defender Shavar Thomas headed the ball clear of the area, Ralston put a right-footed cross on to the head of Noonan who flicked the ball over the head of Wizards goalkeeper Tony Meola to give New England the 1-0 lead. However, the Wizards evened the score in the 33rd minute with a Josh Wolff goal and then went ahead in the 37th minute off of an unassisted David Arnaud goal and the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime with Kansas City ahead 2-1.
Noonan equalized in the 86th minute, finishing off a frenzied attack by the Revolution. The ball finally deflected to the feet of Noonan and the Indiana University product nailed a blast over Meola and the tangle of bodies in the goalmouth to tie the score at 2-2.
The game-winner came in the 90th minute when Revolution playmaker José Cancela played a penetrating through ball ahead to Shalrie Joseph, who then centered a pass from the right side of the box. Forward Clint Dempsey let the ball run for Noonan, who powered a first-time shot into the back of the net for his third goal of the match, which proved to be the game-winner.
"We stuck with it," Noonan said. "I thought we played well in the first half, but we made some careless giveaways all around and next thing you know we're losing 2-1. We came in the locker room, and that's what we said, 'Enough of the careless giveaways ... the only chances they're getting is off of our mistakes.' So, we stuck with it, we kept battling and we found a way to get three points on the road which is huge. We couldn't have needed that win more."
This is the first week this season that a Revolution player has claimed the League's top weekly honors but it is the third time in his career that Noonan has received the award. He captured the honors in both Week 24 and Week 30 of his 2003 rookie season.
Noonan was selected ahead of Chicago Fire forward Damani Ralph in this week’s voting. The Honda Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected every week throughout the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA).
2004 PLAYER OF THE WEEK WINNERS:
Week 1: Jaime Moreno (D.C. United)
Week 2: Pat Onstad (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 3: Fabian Taylor (MetroStars)
Week 4: Carlos Ruiz (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 5: Henry Ring (Chicago Fire)
Week 6: Jovan Kirovski (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 7: Pat Onstad (San Jose Earthquakes)
Week 8: Alejandro Moreno (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 9: Jovan Kirovski (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 10: Pat Noonan (New England Revolution)
