Instead of a standard flight attendant, Minnesota United assistant coach Zarek Valentin was heard over the airplane’s intercom system before the team’s flight to Seattle on Saturday.
And instead of rote instructions that all passengers have heard a million times, Valentin shared news: Dayne St. Clair has won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award.
The Loons’ goalkeeper knew something was afoot just before the announcement, given team staff members were pointing cameras toward his seat in the rear of the plane.
Michael Boxall and other teammates clamored for a speech. St. Clair went to the front of the plane, grabbed the intercom and said he was thankful to win it and that it wouldn’t be possible without all the teammates who defended in front of him this season.
“I’m happy about it,” St. Clair told local reporters. “But I feel like a little bit is I probably haven’t fully processed it, because my mindset right now is so focused on being able to get a result” in Game 2 of the MLS Cup Playoff series against the Sounders on Monday night.
St. Clair won the award over two other finalists: NYCFC’s Matt Freese and Vancouver’s Yohei Takaoka.
St. Clair led MLS with a 79.7 save percentage, was second at 1.0 goals per 90 minutes and tied for fourth with 10 clean sheets.
St. Clair, who earned his second MLS all-star appearance this summer, doesn’t have a favorite moment from the season and says that’s a good thing.
“I think I’ve been able to really be the most consistent that I have been,” said St. Clair, in his seventh season as a pro. “All those moments kind of combined in the consistency and the work.”
St. Clair is the second Loons goalkeeper to win the award after Vito Mannone in 2019. That was St. Clair’s rookie season out of Maryland, and he spent part of the year on loan with Forward Madison in USL. But he recalled how tight that team was defensively, with the likes of Boxall, Ike Opara and Ozzie Alonso ahead of Mannone.
Opara also won MLS defender of the year in 2019.
That season, St. Clair remembers Mannone’s penalty kick save against FC Dallas, as well as the Italian’s overall consistency.
“No real, quote, unquote, big mistakes,” St. Clair said. “Sometimes those are going to happen. But at the same time, is someone back there that you can really rely on to make the save more than not and make the hard things look easy?”
St. Clair, who is Canada’s top goalkeeper going into the 2026 World Cup, will be an MLS free agent at the end of 2025. His uncertain future with MNUFC continues to linger.
“There’s no update for me,” St. Clair said. “I’m kind of focused on this playoff stretch right now and doing the best I can for the team. I think I’ll take care of that and see where all the cards lie and deal with that after” the playoffs.
Minnesota United goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair (97) reaches out to make a save as Austin FC defender Mateja Djordjević (35) attempts a header into the net in the second half of a U.S. Open Cup semifinal match at Allianz Field in St. Paul on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
