In just one half of play, Seattle Sounders U23 forward David Geno of East Tennessee State University made history. His four-goal performance was the first by a player from an amateur level team in the Modern Professional Era (1995-present) and put him among a list of 10 players in that same period that have accomplished the feat. In doing so, he earned the First Round TheCup.us Player of the Round honor voted on by the site’s staff and members of North American Soccer Reporters.
Gustavo Villalobos of FC Hasental was also honored as the Player of the Round for the Preliminary Round.
The Sounders’ PDL side dominated from the beginning with Darwin Jones scoring 13 minutes. From that point, it was all Geno as he scored six minutes later, added a pair back-to-back in the 36th and 38th and capped it all off with a strike in the final minute, exiting during the intermission with the victory firmly in their grasp with a five-goal lead en route to the 5-1 win.
Geno, heading into his senior year at ETSU next fall, also moved into the top 10 in all-time scoring for PDL players in the tournament, joining a group of four other players with four goals in a tie for fifth with two sitting tied for third at career goals and another pair at the top of the list with nine each (see table).
| PDL Modern Pro Era Scoring Leaders (1995-present) |
|
| Tomas Boltnar (Des Moines Menace) | 9 |
| Byron Carmichael (Ocean City Nor’easters) | 9 |
| David Bulow (Cape Cod Crusaders) | 5 |
| Francisco Lopez (Ventura County Fusion) | 5 |
| DAVID GENO (SEATTLE SOUNDERS U23s) | 4 |
| Clay Harty (Central Coast Roadrunners) | 4 |
| Randi Patterson (Carolina Dynamo) | 4 |
| Julian Nash (Chicago Fire PDL) | 4 |
| Paul Snape (Michigan Bucks) | 4 |
Geno, not surprisingly, dominated among the 15 ballots cast, but finishing neck-and-neck as runners-up in the voting were Hakan Ilhan of the Carolina Dynamo was second and FC Tucson’s Conner Bevans. Ilhan tallied a hat-trick in a come-from-behind draw and penalty kick victory by the Dynamo and Bevans scored twice in a 2-1 comeback win against a USL Pro side after entering with eight minutes remaining.
FC Hasental’s Villalobos selected Player of the Round for Preliminary Round
Gustavo Villalobos of the NPSL’s FC Hasental was selected as the Player of the Round for last week’s two-game Preliminary Round by TheCup.us Editorial staff. With the side trailing on the road in Fresno after a third minute goal by the hosts, Villalobos evened things up just before the half-hour mark and then added a second an hour into the contest to make it 3-1 as Hasental scored four consecutive goals en route to a 5-3 victory.
2013 TheCup.us Player of the Round Awards
Preliminary Round: Gustavo Villalobos (FC Hasental)
First Round: David Geno (Seattle Sounders U23s)
#USOC100
Yeah GENO!!! Great game to watch, the movement of Jones and Geno was incendiary, here’s to a deep cup run!