The Montreal Impact had arguably the best week in MLS in Week 9, and one of their key players, goalkeeper Evan Bush, spearheaded that effort.
Bush was named MLS Player of the Week for posting shutouts in two wins in Week 9 -- a 3-0 away win on Wednesday against the New England Revolution and a 1-0 home win over the Chicago Fire on Sunday.
In New England, Bush helped hold the fort down in the back while Montreal pushed for a winner. While the margin was comfortable in the end, the goals weren't scored until the final 11 minutes, and Bush had one save and a punch to keep his team in the match.
Bush made crucial back-to-back saves in the opening minutes against Chicago to keep the match scoreless. In the sixth minute, Bush made a diving stop on Nicolas Gaitan’s shot and deflected the ball back into the box. Nemanja Nikolic rebounded the deflection and sent a shot toward goal, only for Bush to come up big once again with a save from the ground. Bush would hold Chicago scoreless the remainder of the match and the Impact prevailed on an Omar Browne goal in the 83rd minute.
The two-game week with six points vaulted the Impact to a tie atop the Eastern Conference, with 17 points.
Bush, 33, has been with the Impact since they entered MLS in 2012, and has 154 career regular season starts for Montreal. The undisputed starter in goal the last five seasons, Bush appears to be playing better than ever since the start of the 2018 season.
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.
