National shot-stopper Donovan Ricketts was rewarded for yet another outstanding season for Major League Soccer (MLS) club Los Angeles Galaxy as he was voted the MLS' top goalkeeper.

In a vote of the MLS' players, general managers, coaches and media professionals, the Jamaican finished ahead of Dallas FC's Kevin Hartman and Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando, who were both favoured to cop the award ahead of the Reggae Boy.

"It's a good feeling, you know?" Ricketts told the ESPN Los Angeles website http://espn. go.com/blog/los-angeles.

"The goalkeepers in this league are very high-quality goalkeepers. So to be Goalkeeper of the Year is a very high honour," he added.

Ricketts has been outstanding since joining the Galaxy in December 2008 after being released by English Second Division side Bradford earlier that year. The goaltender, although shortlisted for the honour last year, lost out to Chivas USA's Zach Thornton although he was then favoured to claim the award.

biggest accomplishment

The Jamaican believes the individual award is possibly the biggest accomplishment of his career to date.

"Well, maybe number one because it's the first time I've been Goalkeeper of the Year in anything. So I think it's number one for the time being, but it's going to be replaced by the MLS Cup," Ricketts said.

The keeper recorded a franchise-record 11 shutouts to push the Galaxy to a league-best 18-7-5 record this season. A two-time MLS all-star, Ricketts also set a regular-season club record with a 0.90 goals-against average, lowering his career mark to 0.96, best in league history among keepers who have played at least 500 minutes.

The 33-year-old was outstanding against the Seattle Sounders in the first match of the MLS playoffs last weekend, managing to keep a clean sheet and will be hoping for another when L.A. face Seattle again in the deciding game of the Western Conference semi-finals on Sunday at the Home Depot Centre.

Ricketts' recognition comes on the heels of a similar award to a fellow Jamaican custodian as Sweden-based Dwayne Miller was recently voted the best goalkeeper in the Swedish Second Division after leading his team Syrianska to the league title and automatic top-flight promotion.