Ryan Gauld Whitecaps Play Of The Year

Overall when you assess the Whitecaps season it was one that had its moments with player development as well as growth within the team in various areas.

Regardless if they were unable to advance beyond LA or not at times they entertained the numerous fans that attended all home matches while attracting more of the younger crowd.

If you look at the growth of soccer in the area there are a couple of reasons for this, first is that it’s cost affordable for the families and secondly for the most part there aren’t any late games or practices.

In conversation with some fans who have attended either for one match or several they did mention that they were entertained by the on-field product but not entertained for what they called a “fan experience” which varied from individual to individual.

Now we are hearing about the recent announcement for the 2024 Player Awards which won’t surprise many considering that the Player of the Year for the third consecutive season went to Captain Ryan Gauld.

We received the following press release from the Whitecaps and wanted to share.

Enjoy the read:

Player of the Year: Ryan Gauld

It’s been another milestone year for Ryan Gauld.

In his first season as captain, the Scotsman was named an MLS All-Star for the first time as he broke the Whitecaps FC club record for most assists in an MLS season with 15. 

It was a career season as he recorded 25 goal contributions during the MLS regular season (10 goals, 15 assists), his most since joining the club in 2021. 

Gauld is the first player in the club’s MLS era to record double digit goals and assists in back-to-back seasons

History was made again in the MLS Cup Playoffs, as Gauld became only the seventh player in league history to score a hat-trick in the postseason, and only the third player to record three goals and one assist in a single match after Sebastian Giovinco and Landon Donovan. Gauld also scored in the first match of the Round One Best-of-3 Series against LAFC.

In addition, the native of Laurencekirk, Scotland scored twice during the 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship to lead the ‘Caps to a third straight Voyageurs Cup. 

Across all competitions, Gauld has scored 16 goals and added 16 assists.

With his outstanding play for Whitecaps FC, Gauld also earned the call to Scotland’s national team this year, making his debut in the UEFA Nations League against Poland in September and has made a total of four appearances.

A panel of media selected finalists centre back Ranko Veselinović, forwards Fafa Picault and Brian White, as well as Gauld for Player of the Year. Gauld was then voted for the award by fans through an online poll.