Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Top Scorers Through 2007

With the 2007 season over, it's time to go back through the list of top goal scorers for the Wizards in MLS play.

1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006


The Wizards saw a return to the playoffs this season, and a return of form for Eddie Johnson, who led the team with 15 goals, which finds him on this list for the first time. Curt Onalfo brought in a more offensive mindset for this season, that was evident early on in the season. As the season wore on and the goals dried up, the team didn't look near as strong. In the playoffs, the team returned to their bread and butter from years past, stifling the opponents attack and hoping for that one goal. It worked, as the Wizards knocked off Western Conference Champions, Chivas USA 1-0 on aggregate thanks to a Davy Arnaud goal.

The number in parenthesis after the goal total is the players change in position from the year before. Pictures on this entry will only be of players who are making their first appearance on the list, for pictures of each player, check previous entries.

1. Preki - 71 (-)

2. Chris Klein - 39 (-)

3. Mo Johnston - 31 (-)

4. Vitalis "Digital" Takawira - 28 (-)

5. Josh Wolff - 27 (-)

6. Scott Sealy - 26 (+2)

7. Davy Arnaud - 25 (-1)

8. Mark Chung - 20 (-1)

9. Eddie Johnson - 17 (N/A) - Wizards MVP in 2007, Eddie Johnson joins this list. After only 2 goals in his first season with KC, Johnson played much better this season, scoring 15 goals. While he faded down the stretch, he is still creating interest from teams in Europe, so this could be as high as he gets.10. Chris Brown - 15 (-1)

11T. Matt McKeon - 13 (-1)

11T. Jose Burciaga Jr. - 13 (+3)

13T. Igor Simutenkov - 12 (-2)

13T. Miklos Molnar - 12 (-2)

13T. Chris Henderson - 12 (-2)

13T. Sasha Victorine - 12 (+4)

17T. Francisco Gomez - 11 (-3)

17T. Paul Wright - 11 (-3)

19T. Jimmy Conrad - 9 (-1)

19T. Jack Jewsbury - 9 (-)


Dropped Out
Roy Lassiter
Frank Klopas

Both Scott Sealy and Davy Arnaud could move into the top 5 with similar seasons in 2008. If Sealy were to have a season like Johnson did this year, he could find himself in second. Next season, though, I'd expect Sealy to be third and Arnaud to be either fourth or fifth.

The prospects of a new player coming onto the list is rather low heading into next season, unless a player has a big season. Here are the rest of the current Wizards who have scored goals.

Kerry Zavagnin - 8
Ryan Pore - 3
Michael Harrington - 3
Nick Garcia - 1
Carlos Marinelli - 1
Eloy Colombano - 1

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