Sporting KC's Melia named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year

The Sporting Kansas City man joins his teammate Ike Opara as a league award winner after being part of the unit that allowed the fewest goals in MLS

Tim Melia has won the 2017 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, the league announced Thursday.

The 31-year-old Melia was a part of Sporting KC’s league-best defensive unit that allowed just 29 goals on the season. He also managed 10 clean sheets, good for a tie for second in the league.

Sporting KC's defense also saw center back Ike Opara take home the MLS Defender of the Year award. Melia is the third Sporting KC player to win Goalkeeper of the Year, following Jimmy Nielsen and Tony Meola.

A former Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA player, Melia did not get a starting job until he moved to Sporting KC in 2015 — a season in which he was also named MLS Comeback Player of the Year and helped his team hoist the U.S. Open Cup.

This season, Melia added another Open Cup to his collection as Sporting KC defeated the New York Red Bulls in the final. However, a hamstring injury sidelined him for Sporting KC's 1-0 extra-time loss to the Houston Dynamo in the opening round of the MLS playoffs.

Melia took home the majority of the vote share across all three groups of voters — media, players and club technical staffs — and finished with an average vote share of 50.29 percent.

He beat out last year’s winner, Andre Blake of the Philadelphia Union, who finished second with an average vote tally of 10.13 percent.

Stefan Frei of the reigning MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders, and league leader in clean sheets with 13, finished third with 8.24 percent of the vote.

Toronto FC's Alex Bono, New York City FC's Sean Johnson and Atlanta United's Brad Guzan rounded out the top six.