Minnesota United center back Ike Opara has been named 2019 MLS Defender of the Year, the league announced Thursday. It's the second time Opara has won the award, having previously earned the honor in 2017.

Opara led a defensive revolution in Minnesota after joining from Sporting KC ahead of the season starting, helping the club concede 28 fewer goals than the season prior. The Loons made the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in the club's short MLS history. He also helped the club to the 2019 U.S. Open Cup final.

He is the fourth player to win the award multiple times, joining Chad Marshall, Carlos Bocanegra and Robin Fraser. Here's the moment he learned he won the award, courtesy of Minnesota United:

The 30-year-old was selected No. 3 overall in the 2010 SuperDraft by the San Jose Earthquakes, though broke out with SKC in 2016, cementing his place as one of the league's best defenders ever since. After being plagued with injury issues earlier in his career, playing more than 1,000 minutes only once before 2016, Opara has played at least 2,500 minutes in three consecutive seasons.

Opara finished well ahead of LAFC's Walker Zimmerman and Atlanta United's Miles Robinson, beating both by over 16 percentage points. The award was voted on by MLS club technical staff, media, and current MLS players. Below is a breakdown of the voting results:

Voting Results

Nominee Player

Vote Club

Vote Media

Vote Avg Ike Opara (MIN) 25.75% 27.27% 44.88% 32.64% Walker Zimmerman (LAFC) 20.40% 17.17% 12.20% 16.59% Miles Robinson (ATL) 19.40% 13.13% 15.75% 16.09% Maxime Chanot (NYC) 1.67% 16.16% 4.33% 7.39% Eddie Segura (LAFC) 4.35% 9.09% 5.91% 6.45%

MLS Defender of the Year Winners