NEW YORK(Tuesday, September 5, 2017) – New England Revolution forward Kei Kamara was voted the Alcatel MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for the 26th week of the 2017 MLS season.
Kamara scored his first MLS hat trick to lead New England to a 4-0 victory over Orlando City SC on Saturday at Gillette Stadium. The Sierra Leonean international ranks 10th in MLS history with 97 regular season goals scored and has 11 goals this season to go along with his four assists. New England sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings in its continued hunt to climb above the playoff line (32 points, 9-12-5 overall record).
New England grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute when Kamara jumped in the air inside the six-yard box and blasted home a volley past goalkeeper Joe Bendik off teammate Scott Caldwell’s cross (Watch Goal).
In the 75th minute, Kamara was able to hold the ball at his feet and advance into the box. After a quick one-two with teammate Lee Nguyen, Kamara slotted home his second goal of the game to make it 2-0 (Watch Goal). The center forward broke through the defense once again in the 89th minute. After spinning away from a challenge and pushing the ball up the field, Kamara finished off his first MLS hat trick with a right-footed shot near post to make it 3-0 New England (Watch Goal).
New England returns to action on Saturday, September 9 to host the Montreal Impact at Gillette Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, TVAS).
The Alcatel MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
