MLS honors Sounders’ goalkeeper Keller, midfielder Rosales

Published 9:26 pm Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Two Seattle Sounders players took home postseason honors Wednesday as Kasey Keller was named Major League Soccer’s goalkeeper of the year and midfielder Mauro Rosales was named the league’s newcomer of the year.

Keller, who retired after his third season in Seattle, was named the goalkeeper on the team’s Best XL team last week, so this award hardly came as a surprise. At 41, Keller enjoyed perhaps his best season in Seattle, posted nine shutouts, a 1.09 goals against average, and made a career-high 110 saves.

“Kasey had a superb season, finishing his career at such a high level is a reflection of his professionalism and high standards,” Sounders FC Head coach Sigi Schmid said in a statement released by the team “The game will miss him and we are proud that he was a Seattle Sounder.”

Rosales, a 30-year-old Argentine, signed with Seattle in March, and quickly developed into one of the team’s best offensive players. He established a team record with 13 assists, which ranked third in the league, and scored five goals. Most impressively, Seattle was 13-3-6 in games Rosales started. Rosales missed Seattle’s two playoff games because of a knee injury, and perhaps not coincidentally, Sounders FC failed to make it out of the conference semifinals.

“This is an award I share with my teammates because without them we could not be so successful,” Rosales said in a statement. “It’s been a great season and I am honored by this vote of the media, as well as players and executives of other clubs. I would like thank everyone in the Sounders family, my fellow players, the coaches, staff and, of course, the fans.”

Champions League quarterfinal dates announced

Sounders FC won’t just be getting ready for the start of its regular season this winter, it will also be preparing for the continuation of the CONCACAF Champions League. Seattle reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, which crowns the club champion of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, by advancing out of the group-play stages, which took place earlier this year.

Seattle will host Santos Laguna of Mexico in the first leg of the quarterfinal on March 7 at 7 p.m. at CenturyLink Field. Sounders FC will travel to Torreon, Mexico for the second leg on March 14. The team said ticket information will be announced soon.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.