Sutton has yet to allow a goal in three starts so far this season. He picked up his last two shutouts over the weekend, Friday in a 1-0 overtime win against the A-League champ Charleston Battery, and Saturday in a 2-0 victory against the Atlanta Silverbacks.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper helped the Impact come back from its season-opening road trip with a perfect 3-0 record. The Montreal squad is having its best start since 1998, when it won its first seven match-ups.
"It’s a nice honour, but more than that, it’s a reflection of the good start to the season the whole team has had defensively," said Sutton. "Every time you shut out an opponent, you gain confidence as a team."
Sutton was named Player of the Week after shutting out Charleston for 106 minutes of play, Friday, until Mauro Biello’s game-winning goal at the 16th minute of overtime. The next day, in Atlanta, he made a diving save at the 80th minute of play on a penalty kick taken by Velko Iotov to preserve his team’s 2-0 lead.
Sutton is picking up where he left off last year, when he had the best season of his career, with 11 shutouts, 15 wins, 2,463 minutes played and a goals-against average of 0.731, all A-League highs in 2003. He was proclaimed the A-League’s most outstanding goalkeeper in addition to being picked on the first all-star team.
"The last three years I’ve been with the Impact, we’ve always lost some games at the beginning of the season," pointed out Sutton. "But coming back from a three-game road trip with three shutouts, you can’t ask for a better way to start the season."
Leduc, a midfielder, was selected on the A-League Team of the Week for the second straight week. He made the offensive run and the pass that led to Biello’s winner against the Battery. As for Commodore, a striker, he scored his first two goals in an Impact uniform in the win against Atlanta.
The next game for head coach Nick DeSantis’ squad is slated for Sunday, May 16 at 4 pm against the Virginia Beach Mariners. It will be the team’s home opener at Claude Robillard Stadium.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
