The Seattle Sounders continued their run of fielding standout defenses without winning individual awards when it was announced on Wednesday that Steven Moreira won 2024 Defender of the Year. Moreira got 18.57% of the average vote share, easily the lowest of any winner since at least 2018.
Jackson Ragen finished third, with just under 9% of the average vote share. He performed best among the club voters, where he was tied with Jordi Alba for the highest vote share (18.75%). Ragen performed comparably poor among media (4%) and players (3.8%). This was the third time in four years that a Sounders defender was a finalist, with Yeimar Gomez Andrade finishing third last year and second in 2021.
Although the Sounders allowed the fewest goals and had the lowest Expected Goals Against, voters were apparently more impressed by Moreira’s work with the Columbus Crew, who allowed the fifth fewest goals while also playing a more expansive style.
