Awards Day

U.S. Soccer today announced the finalists for the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and it is no surprise that Landon Donovan is one of six finalists. A two-time winner of the award (2003 and 2004), Donovan will look to take this prize after winning the Honda Player of the Year award earlier this month.

The other finalists are: Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Oguchi Onyewu.

Additionally, former Galaxy defender Jorge Salcedo was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year as he led UCLA to a 10-4-6 record (7-1-2 in the Pac-10) and a fifth conference title in the last seven years. This was the second time that Salcedo has won this award.

Helping to win Salcedo the award were four players who were named All-Pac-10 while also playing for the Galaxy U-20's this summer.

Michael Stephens was the Pac-10 Player of the Year, scoring seven goals and adding nine assists from the Bruins midfield. He was the U-20's only representative on the Pac-10 First Team, while goalkeeper Brian Perk (9-4-4, 0.96 GAA) claimed a spot on the Second Team. Forward David Estrada (4 goals and 3 assists) and defender Danny Suits (started all 20 games and played and a team-high 1,850 minutes played) were named Honorable Mention All-Pac 10