BASA: Defender of the Year - Explanation of My Votes

Defender of the Year

1- Eddie Robinson
2- Facundo Erpen
3- Ugo Ihemelu

Like in the case of goalkeepers discussed earlier this week, to find the best defensive players you initially need to look at the teams that allowed the fewest numbers of goals. Going by this philosophy, the best defensive teams are New England, Los Angeles, DC, and Houston.

From all reports we can assume that the Herculean effort of Matt Reis is what kept Revs opponents off the board. Thus, choosing a representative from this team wouldn’t make sense – unless you could give it to Reis.

This leaves us with the Dynamo, United, and the Galaxy. Ihemelu was a stalwart for LA throughout the season playing more minutes than anyone else while slowing down attackers.

As for DC their entire back line could have been listed for the award. It was a toss up between Bobby Boswell and Erpen. Although Boswell was chosen as his teams top defender I think that Erpen brought an offensive edge. The Argentine added 3 goals and a pair of assists to his solid defensive efforts.

Robinson represents the collective fourth best defense in the league. The reason he deserves the top spot is that his support was somewhat lacking this year. Robinson picked up a lot of slack while supporting Onstad in front the net.