Sapong easily wins MLS Rookie of the Year vote By Charles Posted on November 8, 2011 Comments Off on Sapong easily wins MLS Rookie of the Year vote 0 499 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter C.J. SapongSporting Kansas City lost the Eastern Conference Final on Sunday, but the club is getting some silverware, after all. Major League Soccer announced that SKC striker C.J. Sapong has been named the league’s Rookie of the Year for 2011. Sapong played in all 34 regular-season games, no small feat for a first-year player right out of the NCAA. He scored five times and added five assists. Sapong dominated the vote. He took 34.04 per cent of the votes from club officials, 41.99 per cent of the media vote and 30.25 per cent of the ballots from current players. Remember that winning MLS awards is sort of like winning a Canadian election. You don’t need to get close to 50 per cent support to dominate the vote. Need proof? The second-place finisher, D.C. United’s Perry Kitchen, got 13.83 per cent of the club vote, 12.71 per cent of the media votes and 8.02 per cent of the player votes. Sapong, a James Madison University grad, was the 10th pick in the 2011 Superdraft.
