Editor’s Note: This post was submitted by Evan Eyster, the newest contributor to Indomitable City Soccer. Give him a follow on Twitter.
Defender of the Year is the most wide open category there is this year. Apart from there being no clear winner between the three players who were nominated, there are at the very least three or four other players who are in the conversation as to who should have this award.
Four players who were snubbed are: Josh Phillips of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, Brenton Griffiths of the Orange County Blues, and both Onua Thomas Obasi and Grant Van De Casteele of the Rochester Rhinos.
My instinct would have been to give this award to Obasi, even with injuries limiting him to 17 starts on the year, but obviously that is not an option.
One big thing to note early is different usage of the three nominated players, making this far more difficult to call correctly in my book. To compare to Sacramento Republic players, who most ICS readers are more used to watching, Burke from Louisville takes on more of the position that Klimenta takes. He plays up the wings and is more of an active participant in the attack, as his ten assists this season help show. Meanwhile, Ferguson and Steres are more of your typical defenders like Daly and Vukovic.
I think because of that difference we should look first to compare Ferguson and Steres, and then compare the that player to Burke. Choosing between Ferguson and Steres is not easy, with both players acting as large components of their defense. However, there are two things that make Ferguson the better of the two. First, Ferguson simply played more. He missed one game on the year, compared to Steres who missed three games and also got sent off in a game.
The bigger difference is that Charleston was notably weaker in the game that Ferguson missed on card accumulation, losing 3-2 to Saint Louis. That means when Ferguson started for Charleston, they allowed 0.93 goals per game. In the games that Steres missed, LA went 3-0-0, allowing 4 goals. While the goals allowed a game drops by 0.02 for LAG to 1.08 when Steres played, their record improved and all games were against playoff contention teams (OC, TUL, SAC).
So now we move on to who wins between Ferguson and Burke, trying to compare two very different players to see who is better. Both players were very important to their sides, but this is the defensive player of the year award, so I have to give the award to the player on the team that played defense more effectively. Louisville was a very strong team this year, and if they can bring back their key players they will be a title contender again in 2016. However, their weakness, poor showings when they did not score at least three goals, was very pronounced. The best defensive player is a player who will step up and keep their team in low scoring games.
Burke plays well in the Louisville system, but I think he is not quite as versatile if you moved him to a team like Rochester who aims for the 1-0 type win. Again using the Sacramento comparison, think how different Klimenta and Kiffe look when they don’t move up much. Ferguson is the strong central defender that will thrive on any team since it’s the core position, so he gets the nod for me.
Even with my pick being Furguson, I feel it is still worth noting that if I was looking to sign a player in a system that is more offensively oriented with wing play and crossing, I may take Burke instead.
Winner: Shawn Ferguson (CHS)
Runner Up: Bryan Burke (LOU)
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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