For the first time in team history, there's a new name at the top of the club's all-time single-season goal scoring chart.
Nearly 18 years to the day after Preki scored his 18th goal during Major League Soccer's inaugural season on Sept. 7, 1996, Dom Dwyer matched the record on Saturday with his 18th goal of the season in Sporting Kansas City's nationally televised road match at Red Bull Arena.
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Making his 50th MLS appearance, Dwyer scored in the 52nd minute on Saturday following a free kick from Graham Zusi. Seth Sinovic won the header at the back post to set up Dwyer, who buried his shot from the top of the six-yard box.
<strong>Player Name</strong> |
<strong>Goals</strong> |
<strong>Year</strong> |
Dom Dwyer |
18 |
2014 |
Preki |
18 |
1996 |
Eddie Johnson |
15 |
2007 |
Dwyer is second in the MLS Golden Boot race -- trailing only New York Red Bulls forward Bradley-Wright Phillips (21) -- with six games remaining in the regular season. An MLS All-Star in 2014, Dwyer's five multi-goal games are most in MLS. He also leads all players with 13 left-footed goals and three headed goals.
The 24-year-old has appeared in a team-high 27 MLS matches this season, missing his first game of the campaign on Wednesday while serving a one-game suspension due to caution accumulation. He was named MLS Player of the Month in May with goals in four consecutive games and won MLS Goal of the Week in April for his game-winning goal in stoppage time at Colorado.
Selected in the first round of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, Dwyer scored 26 goals across six competitions in 2013 while splitting time with Sporting Kansas City and the team's USL PRO affiliate Orlando City SC. The Englishman was the USL PRO's top scorer and Championship MVP with four goals in the final before propelling Sporting KC to MLS Cup by scoring the game-winning goal in the Eastern Conference Championship.
