June Player of the Month

June ended yesterday so it's time to award this month's player of the month award. The month of June was cut short in MLS play due to the World Cup break that the league took, but the Wizards still managed to get in 3 games in the month. The Wizards went 1-1-1 in June, drawing in Toronto, winning at home against the Philadelphia Union and closed the month with the loss to New York.
Stat wise, here are some of the bigger stats from this month. Jimmy Nielsen recorded 2 shutouts, Kei Kamara and Graham Zusi each added a goal, while Ryan Smith added 2 assists. With the stats this month and the overall play, there are really 3 players that I looked at for the month of June, as it turned out to be a fairly poor month overall for the team. First, Michael Harrington had a solid month moving back to the left back position as Roger Espinoza left for the World Cup. Smith had a very good game against Philadelphia and was solid against Toronto. Zusi is the other guy who had a good month, even though most of that came as a substitute.
This month the player of the month is...

photo courtesy of Thad Bell

Ryan Smith had very good game against the Union even while getting hacked consistently. Overall the month of June wasn't good for anyone, but Smith's performance against Philadelphia is what won him this month.