Derrick Etienne finishes third in USL Goal of the Month voting for May

Derrick Etienne of New York Red Bulls II and the Red Bulls Academy finished in third for the USL Goal of the Month voting for the month of May. He was nominated for his goal in a 3-2 win over FC Montreal, his first as a professional.

Etienne finished slightly ahead of Oalex Anderson (Seattle Sounders FC 2) and behind Rodrigo Lopez (Sacramento FC) and Mike Ambersley (Saint Louis FC).

Should he have finished in first place? In my shamelessly biased and always 100% correct opinion... yes. Absolutely. However, because this is American soccer, the fans have to be given a say in absolutely everything including monthly awards. Here's a video with the top three goals. Watch them and judge for yourself.

Personally, I find a perfectly placed, first touch volley to be much more impressive than a routine shot from 20 yards out or a simple give and go. Nonetheless, I'm sure a goal from a player on the Sacramento Republic won based solely on merit and not the size of their fan base.

Sorry, I hate fan voting. Anyway, back to Etienne. Congratulations to him. Hopefully this is the first of many professional accolades for the young player.

Oh, what's this? The Mirror posting Etienne's goal against Richmond? Did they post the Sacramento goal as well? No? (Because the Sacramento goal wasn't very impressive.)

Here's that goal against Richmond (if you don't feel like clicking on a post by The Mirror).

Perhaps Etienne's goal featuring a long run capped off with a finish at a nearly impossible angle should have been nominated by the USL for their Goal of the Month competition.

Derrick Etienne won the Once a Metro Goal of the Month competition for May which is also, ironically, a fan vote because we are hypocrites.