LAFC announced today that forward Diego Rossi was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for the sixth week of the 2019 MLS regular season.
Rossi, currently sitting in second place in MLS with six tallies, scored three goals during the 4-0 victory over D.C. United on April 6. This marks Rossi’s second hat trick since joining the Black & Gold last season. He notched all three goals during regular time of the U.S. Open Cup semifinal loss against Houston Dynamo.
The 21-year-old opened his day with a goal in the 27th minute to give LAFC a 2-0 advantage. Vela served Rossi with a perfectly placed pass into the box, where the Uruguayan finished with a left-footed tap in to the bottom right corner of the goal.
Five minutes later, Rossi extended LAFC’s lead to 3-0 with a curling shot from inside the box off a through-ball from Mark-Anthony Kaye.
Rossi then completed his first MLS hat trick in the 76th minute when he received Christian Ramirez’s pass in the box and powered a shot off goalkeeper Bill Hamid and into the back of the net.
For just the seventh time in MLS history, a team recorded hat tricks in back-to-back matches and the first time it’s happened in consecutive road games. On March 30, forward Carlos Vela tallied three goals during the Club’s 5-0 road victory over San Jose Earthquakes.
LAFC remains undefeated and sits atop the standings following a 5-0-1 (16 points) start to its 2019 MLS campaign. Next up for the Black & Gold is a matchup against expansion side FC Cincinnati on Saturday evening at Banc of California Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on YouTube TV, KVMD, ESPNLA 710, KFWB 980.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
