Editor’s Note: This post was submitted by Evan Eyster, the newest contributor to Indomitable City Soccer. Give him a follow on Twitter.

Before I get into the keepers who were nominated, I wanted to identify some possible snubs: Woszczynski (AZ), Roberts (TOR)

There are two big things I want to look at when deciding keeper of the year: the amount they were required to step up, and how important the keeper was to the team as a whole. For the first statistic, we will look at how much support they had from their defense. In my book, a keeper that performed well when being called into action is better than a keeper that rarely had to step up due to a top tier defense backing them up. That means we have:

Cooper (CHS): 50 saves, 18 goals allowed in 19 games (3.58 attempts/game)
Miller (ROC): 46 saves, 11 goals allowed in 21 games (2.24 attempts/game)
Newton (OKC): 89 saves, 33 goals allowed in 27 games (4.52 attempts/game)

While Miller led the league in save percent and goals allowed, he was rarely tested and therefore I think is out of the running, even though you can argue his defenders deserve an honor (more on that later in the week). Miller performed very well, but his supporting cast was the best in the USL and if you put him on a weaker team I think he takes a step back.

Both Cooper and Newton are very deserving and I would have little problem with either winning. I am awarding this award based on two tiebreakers to none other than: Odisnel Cooper of the Charleston Battery.

Cooper allowed 4 of his 18 goals (22%) on PKs. He had one save. Newton allowed all 3 PKs that were attempted.

Cooper won 10 of his 19 starts (53%), Newton won 13 of his 27 starts (48%). CHS won only 2 of 9 Cooper didn’t start.

Winner: Cooper (CHS)
Runner Up: Newton (OKC)

Stay tuned to Indomitable City Soccer for more of Evan’s picks for the 2015 USL Awards as the week goes on.

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