NEW YORK (Monday, Oct. 4, 2021) – Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Brian White has been voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 29 of the 2021 MLS season.
White scored all three Whitecaps FC goals, the first hat trick of his MLS career, in Vancouver’s 3-0 win against the San Jose Earthquakes at BC Place on Saturday evening.
White opened his account and the Whitecaps FC scoring on the night in the 26th minute. After slipping Ryan Gauld into the area untouched with a first-time pass, White was there to finish off the rebound after Gauld’s effort was parried by Earthquakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.
White then doubled the ‘Caps lead in the 59th minute, rising up in the middle of the goal area to head home a free kick from Deiber Caicedo put in from the right corner.
The hat trick and the victory was completed in the 70th minute, when White rose up at the back post in the penalty area to head home a corner kick from the left from Gauld.
It was the first multiple-goal game of White’s MLS career, which began in 2018 when he was a first-round selection in the SuperDraft (No. 16 overall) out of Duke Univ by the New York Red Bulls. The native of Pittsburgh has scored each of Whitecaps FC’s last five goals, over the last four games, and now has nine goals on the year, including eight goals in his last eight games played.
White and the ‘Caps return to action on Saturday evening, when they travel to face Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field (6 p.m. PT; TSN / ESPN+), in the latest installment of the most-played rivalry in soccer history in the USA and Canada.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
