Florian Jungwirth voted Center Line Soccer’s 2020 San Jose Earthquakes Defender of the Year

The votes are in and the result of our first 2020 season award at Center Line Soccer is here, with the San Jose Earthquakes Defender of the Year, as voted by you, the readers of this site, is Florian Jungwirth.

That’s right, the veteran center back, who’s been pretty steady throughout his time on the backline for the Earthquakes, picks up top honors, having garnered 53 percent of the vote. Nick Lima finished second, with 20 percent.

Jungwirth, in his fourth season with San Jose, played 21 games in total across all competitions for the Earthquakes in 2020. San Jose allowed the most goals in the league in regular season play, 51, but they managed to snag a playoff berth in a stacked Western Conference. Add to that, Jungwirth’s presence in the lineup seemed to settle the Quakes and helped them overcome an eight-game winless run that would have sunk pretty much any other team, with the team’s defensive record improving substantially as they turned the season around.

The German has not always appeared to be first choice for Earthquakes head coach Matias Almeyda, but he showed in 2020 he certainly deserved a starting slot and the honor to be named top defender is worthy.

We’ll have more season awards polls coming soon! Congratulations to Florian for winning Defender of the Year.

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