Crew Receives Awards on Special Night

By Robert Ivory

Columbus, OH- Sometimes it’s ok to mix work with pleasure. The Columbus Crew came together last week after a tough loss to the New England Revolution to celebrate the annual Crew Awards night.

The Crew came together and before the awards were handed out, Crew GM Mark McCullers gave a brief speech, but the highlights included a showing of his ring from last year’s MLS Cup Championship. “This is what it’s all about.”

That was the basic theme on the night, as each member received their award and gave their speech, they in some way referenced winning their second MLS Cup in a row. If there is one thing that head coach Robert Warzycha can look forward to the playoffs, it’s that his club is very confident in winning the Cup, again.

After the awards, the team joined their friends, family, and supporters for a night of fun and games. Fans had the chance to rub elbows at the casino tables with their favorite Crew players with a chance to win great Crew prizes, including a team autographed ball.

But the business of the night was the awards ceremony that led the night off at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, across from Nationwide Arena.  Here are the winners from the night:

-Best Goal of the Year: Jason Garey. “My teammates did all the work and even Andy Iro could have scored it.” Garey got a chuckle from the crowd, but won the award for a goal that spanned almost the length of the field. But the play was highlighted by an almost no look back heel flip from Steven Lenhart against real Salt Lake on July 18th.

-US Soccer Humanitarian of the Year: Steven Lenhart. Lenhart (in his usual self) jumped on stage and instead of speaking gave a little celebratory dance.

-Fans Favorite: Steve Lenhart and Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The Crew fans could not come to a consensus on their favorite player, so the Floridian and Argentinean received the award together. Lenhart did take the mic this time, and jokingly said before he said his thanks, “I am going to translate.”

-Newcomer of the Year: Eric Brunner. The Dublin, OH native was drafted by the New York Red Bulls, but played with Miami FC of the USL-1 last year.

-Coaches Player of the Year: Eddie Gaven

-Defender of the Year: Chad Marshall. Marshall is up for Defender of the Year in the MLS, so this makes clear sense.

-Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Moffat. The Scottish midfielder had a rough year last year, but has been a big part of the Crew this year. Unfortunately, he was under the weather and could not be present to accept his award. 

-Hardest Working Player: Gino Padula. Padula has been a key to the Crew’s backline. As he received his award, the crowd broke out into a “GINO, GINO” chant that the Nordecke give the back each and every game at Crew Stadium.

-Budweiser Golden Boot: Guillermo Barros Schelotto: Schelotto’s second award of the night was his most significant. Guillermo has been the main offensive threat on the team as well as one of the top scorers in the league.

-Glidden Man of the Year: Brian Carroll

-Most Valuable Player: Danny O’Rourke. The Columbus native has been the shining star of the Crew in 2009. The midfielder logged over 2300 minutes during the MLS season, starting in all 26 games in which he played in.

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