Minnesota United FC goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair certainly made the most of his opportunity in Week 3, enough to be voted MLS Player of the Week.
Not originally slated to start, the 24-year-old Canadian international stepped in for Tyler Miller (illness) and posted an eight-save shutout in a 1-0 win Sunday that spoiled the New York Red Bulls’ home opener at Red Bull Arena.
St. Clair set the tone by stopping striker Patryk Klimala's penalty kick in the 14th minute, making him 4-for-4 in such situations during his MLS career. Other highlights were a kick save on Omir Fernandez and several full-extension stops of Lewis Morgan.
The match marked St. Clair’s first appearance since the Audi 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs, giving Loons head coach Adrian Heath a possible selection headache when welcoming the San Jose Earthquakes to Allianz Field on Saturday (8 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+, DAZN in Canada). The Loons have gone undefeated (1W-0L-2D) so far in 2022.
St. Clair is in his fourth professional season after being selected No. 7 overall (first round) in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas. He played college soccer at the University of Maryland.
This is the first time a goalkeeper has won MLS Player of the Week honors since Matt Turner (New England Revolution) did in Week 8 of the 2021 campaign.
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 the vote. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
