PDL Feature
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. – During the first two months of the Major League Soccer season, Chicago Fire Homegrown Player Harry Shipp has been consistently regarded as the class of the current rookie crop.
Until Saturday, however, there was one thing the former Chicago Fire U-23 player hadn’t done: find the back of the net.
That first MLS goal arrived at Red Bull Arena - and was quickly followed by Shipp’s second and third as he became only the sixth rookie in league history to record a hat trick. For his feat, which propelled the Fire to a dramatic 5-4 victory against the New York Red Bulls, Shipp earned the MLS Player of the Week award.
"Harry’s been playing really well,” Fire coach Frank Yallop said. “Each game he’s gotten better, and better, and better."
The rookie was quick to credit his teammates, particularly for the strong rearguard action that allowed the Fire to hold on for a vital victory on the road.
“It was all about the team bonding together, as 11 guys defending the box and I think we showed that in the last 10 minutes there were some great head clearances and it was a rollercoaster, but it was a good rollercoaster,” Shipp said in a postgame interview on My50. "I’m just happy, if I score three goals and we don’t win the game it doesn’t really matter. So, that’s what’s important."
Shipp’s performance was one of a number of impressive rookie outings by PDL alumni in MLS during the past weekend. Former standout Patrick Mullins scored his second goal in as many games for the New England Revolution as they steamrolled Seattle Sounders FC 5-0 on Sunday night, while former Portland Timbers U-23s All-League selection Mark Sherrod had a pair of goals in his first start for the Houston Dynamo.
During a weekend of hat tricks in the league, with New York’s Shaun Wright-Phillips and Real Salt Lake’s Javier Morales also pulling the trick, Shipp’s performance cemented him as a key figure for the Fire not just for this season, but beyond.
"I can’t say enough about Harry," he said. "He’s really working hard at his game, he looks like a real player, and I think he’s got a great chance at going all the way."