KANSAS CITY, Kan. – If there’s one man that has been key for the Swope Park Rangers on their run to the 2017 USL Cup it has been leading scorer Kharlton Belmar. With 14 goals in the regular season and another in the 2017 USL Cup Playoffs, Belmar has added attacking strength to a team making its second consecutive USL Cup appearance when it takes on Louisville City FC on Monday night at Slugger Field (9 p.m. ET | Preview).

This season, his third in the professional ranks, was Belmar’s most productive, improving on his 12-goal season in 2015 that earned him the USL Rookie of the Year award with the Portland Timbers 2. Now in his first postseason, a USL Cup win on Monday would be the perfect cap to his impressive year.

“It would be awesome, it’s been a really productive year for me after a down year last year so to be able to come back and play well and help the team along to a championship would be massive, and a great reward for all the hard work,” said Belmar.

That down year in 2016 makes Belmar’s performance this year all the more impressive, after ending his two-year stint with T2 frustrated, scoring just three goals in the regular season as the side missed out narrowly on a playoff berth. The offseason saw Belmar reassess himself, and ended with him moving to the Rangers. The move, along with his work to add to his game, changed his outlook and helped lead to a string of strong performances in 2017.

“I definitely tried to learn what I could from the end of last year and take all of my experiences from my prior two seasons and went into the offseason hungry and ready to get back into work, so I put a lot of work in, on and off the field to make sure I was ready to go from there for this season,” said Belmar. “Knowing that I was coming into a team that had just made a USL Cup run I knew expectations were going to be high so I made sure I took care of everything I needed to take care of and came in trying to play the best soccer that I could.”