MLS Hat Tricks: A Comprehensive Review

(Bumped and updated. Original post was in June 2007.) There have been 95 hat tricks in MLS regular season play from 1996 until now. When you realize that there's been 2,748 games (through 2010), that means that the odds of seeing a hat trick for either team are 3.46%. Based on that, if you attend all your team's home games, you'll probably see one every two years. In addition, there have only been 10 games where a player has scored 4+ goals. Odds of seeing one of those: 0.36% (or one in 275 games). The home/away breakdown is 62/33 (65% at home). Also, the records of the teams with the hat trick: 90-3-2. The player with the fewest amount of goals in his MLS career to have a hat trick prior to this year is Jose Vasquez (6). After the retirement of Blaise Nkufo (5) before the 2011 season, he now holds that record along with Birahim Diop (who should score at least one more goal to surpass him). There have also been 12 more hat tricks by MLS teams outside of the regular season: 8 in the Open Cup, 2 in the playoffs, 1 in the CONCACAF Champions League, and 1 in the Canadian Championship. Most Hat Tricks (regular season only) 1 Stern John 5 1 Diego Serna 5 3 Edson Buddle 4 3 Mamadou Diallo 4 3 Cobi Jones 4 6 Conor Casey 3 6 Landon Donovan 3 6 Amado Guevara 3 6 Eduardo Hurtado 3 6 Taylor Twellman 3 Most Hat Tricks (all competitions) 1 Stern John 6 2 Diego Serna 5 3 Edson Buddle 4 3 Raul Diaz Arce 4 3 Mamadou Diallo 4 3 Cobi Jones 4 7 Conor Casey 3 7 Landon Donovan 3 7 Amado Guevara 3 7 Eduardo Hurtado 3 7 Roy Lassiter 3 7 Taylor Twellman 3 Team Breakdown (regular season only) FOR AGAINST CHI 5 4 CHV 0 8 CLB 9 6 COL 6 10 DAL 4 8 DC 8 8 HOU 4 0 KC 6 8 LA 16 4 MIA 6 3 NE 9 8 NY 10 13 PHI 1 0 RSL 1 3 SEA 1 0 SJ 4 6 TB 5 4 TOR 0 2 Team Breakdown (all competitions) FOR AGAINST CHI 6 4 CHV 0 8 CLB 10 6 COL 6 10 DAL 6 9 DC 12 9 HOU 4 0 KC 6 8 LA 17 4 MIA 7 3 NE 9 8 NY 10 13 PHI 1 0 RSL 2 3 SEA 1 0 SJ 4 6 TB 5 5 TOR 1 2 Year Breakdown (regular season only) Tricks Games PCT 1996 8 160 5.0% 1997 5 160 3.1% 1998 13 192 6.8% 1999 3 192 1.6% 2000 9 192 4.7% 2001 7 158 4.4% 2002 6 140 4.3% 2003 4 150 2.7% 2004 6 150 4.0% 2005 6 192 3.1% 2006 4 192 2.1% 2007 5 195 2.6% 2008 7 210 3.3% 2009 5 225 2.2% 2010 7 240 2.9% Total 95 2748 3.5% Year Breakdown (all competitions) Tricks 1996 9 1997 5 1998 14 1999 5 2000 12 2001 8 2002 6 2003 5 2004 6 2005 7 2006 5 2007 5 2008 7 2009 6 2010 7 All MLS Hat Tricks (note: OC = Open Cup, PO = Playoffs, CCL = Champions League, CAN = Canadian Championship. The number on the far right is the number of goals the player scored). CD CHIVAS USA (none) CHICAGO FIRE MLS 2000-05-06 A Miami 3-0 W Ante Razov 3 OC 2000-08-09 H Dallas 5-1 W Josh Wolff 4 MLS 2002-05-19 A New England 3-1 W Ante Razov 3 MLS 2004-06-05 H DC United 3-0 W Damani Ralph 3 MLS 2005-06-04 H Chivas USA 5-2 W Nate Jaqua 3 MLS 2008-10-23 H New York 5-2 W Chris Rolfe 33 COLORADO RAPIDS MLS 2001-07-04 H DC United 3-1 W John Spencer 3 MLS 2002-07-04 H Chicago 3-2 W Chris Carrieri 3 MLS 2005-06-18 A Chivas USA 3-1 W Jeff Cunningham 3 MLS 2008-09-27 A New York 5-4 W Conor Casey 3 MLS 2009-04-04 A Los Angeles 3-2 W Conor Casey 3 MLS 2009-08-08 H Chivas USA 4-0 W Conor Casey 3 COLUMBUS CREW MLS 1996-09-07 A Kansas City 5-1 W Brian Maisonneuve 3 MLS 1998-04-18 H Miami 5-1 W Stern John 3 MLS 1998-05-30 H San Jose 4-1 W Stern John 3 MLS 1998-08-16 H Kansas City 5-3 W Stern John 3 MLS 1999-08-01 H Miami 4-0 W Stern John 3 MLS 1999-08-18 A New York 4-2 W Stern John 3 PO 1999-11-07 H DC United 5-1 W Stern John 3 MLS 2001-06-16 H Tampa Bay 6-1 W Dante Washington 3 MLS 2004-09-04 H Los Angeles 3-1 W Ross Paule 3 MLS 2004-09-18 H New York 4-2 W Edson Buddle 4 DC UNITED MLS 1996-05-15 H Columbus 5-2 W Steve Rammel 3 MLS 1996-07-07 H Dallas 6-1 W Raul Diaz Arce 4 PO 1996-10-10 H Tampa Bay 4-1 W Raul Diaz Arce 3 MLS 1997-04-12 A Colorado 5-2 W Raul Diaz Arce 4 MLS 1998-07-18 H Chicago 4-1 W Roy Lassiter 3 CCL 1998-08-11 H Joe Public 8-0 W Roy Lassiter 4 MLS 2000-05-06 A Colorado 5-2 W Jaime Moreno 3 OC 2000-06-14 A Charleston 4-0 W Raul Diaz Arce 3 MLS 2001-05-09 H New England 5-0 W Abdul Thompson Conteh 4 OC 2001-06-27 H New Jersey 8-0 W Abdul Thompson Conteh 3 MLS 2007-06-10 H New York 4-2 W Ben Olsen 3 MLS 2008-06-14 H New York 4-1 W Luciano Emlio 3 FC DALLAS MLS 1997-07-18 H San Jose 3-1 W Dante Washington 3 MLS 1999-03-20 H Kansas City 4-0 W Jason Kreis 3 OC 1999-07-13 H Jacksonville 3-0 W Bobby Rhine 3 MLS 2002-06-08 H Colorado 4-1 W Bobby Rhine 3 OC 2006-08-02 A Charleston 3-3 D Kenny Cooper 3 MLS 2009-08-01 H Kansas City 6-0 W Jeff Cunningham 4 HOUSTON DYNAMO MLS 2006-04-02 H Colorado 5-2 W Brian Ching 4 MLS 2007-06-21 H Chivas USA 4-0 W Brad Davis 3 MLS 2007-09-08 H Real Salt Lake 4-3 W Nate Jaqua 3 MLS 2010-08-21 H Chicago 4-3 W Brian Ching 3 KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MLS 1998-05-16 A New England 3-1 W Vitalis Takawira 3 MLS 1998-09-05 H San Jose 5-1 W Preki 3 MLS 2004-07-03 H Dallas 5-1 W Davy Arnaud 3 MLS 2007-05-26 A New England 4-3 W Eddie Johnson 3 MLS 2007-06-02 H New York 3-2 W Eddie Johnson 3 MLS 2010-10-23 H San Jose 4-1 W Birahim Diop 3 LOS ANGELES GALAXY MLS 1996-06-09 A New York 4-0 W Eduardo Hurtado 3 MLS 1996-06-26 H Colorado 3-1 W Eduardo Hurtado 3 MLS 1996-07-27 A Tampa Bay 3-4 L Cobi Jones 3 MLS 1997-09-07 H Tampa Bay 6-1 W Eduardo Hurtado 3 MLS 1997-09-21 A San Jose 3-2 W Jose Vasquez 3 MLS 1998-05-06 H Colorado 7-4 W Cobi Jones 3 MLS 1998-05-17 A Columbus 4-2 W Martin Machon 3 MLS 1998-06-04 A Dallas 8-1 W Harut Karapetyan 3 MLS 1998-08-05 A Colorado 6-1 W Cobi Jones 3 MLS 1998-08-22 A New England 5-1 W Cobi Jones 3 MLS 2002-08-31 H New York 3-0 W Carlos Ruiz 3 OC 2003-08-27 A Seattle 5-1 W Carlos Ruiz 3 MLS 2004-05-19 A DC United 4-2 W Alejandro Moreno 3 MLS 2008-04-26 H Chivas USA 5-2 W Landon Donovan 3 MLS 2008-05-18 A Dallas 5-1 W Edson Buddle 3 MLS 2008-06-14 A San Jose 3-0 W Edson Buddle 3 MLS 2008-09-20 H DC United 5-2 W Landon Donovan 3 MIAMI FUSION MLS 1998-08-30 H New England 3-2 W Diego Serna 3 OC 2000-06-14 H New Jersey 6-1 W Welton 4 MLS 2000-06-21 A Tampa Bay 4-1 W Diego Serna 3 MLS 2000-09-02 H New York 4-1 W Diego Serna 4 MLS 2000-09-09 A DC United 6-2 W Diego Serna 3 MLS 2001-06-02 A Dallas 6-2 W Diego Serna 3 MLS 2001-09-08 H DC United 3-1 W Alex Pineda Chacon 3 NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MLS 1997-05-30 H New York 3-1 W Alberto Naveda 3 MLS 2002-09-07 H DC United 3-0 W Taylor Twellman 3 MLS 2003-08-30 H Chicago 5-1 W Chris Brown 3 MLS 2003-10-25 H New York 5-2 W Pat Noonan 3 MLS 2004-06-02 A Kansas City 3-2 W Pat Noonan 3 MLS 2005-07-16 H Dallas 3-2 W Taylor Twellman 3 MLS 2005-09-10 H Columbus 3-1 W Taylor Twellman 3 MLS 2009-08-23 H Real Salt Lake 3-1 W Kheli Dube 3 MLS 2010-04-10 H Toronto 4-1 W Zack Schilawski 3 NEW YORK RED BULLS (Metrofanatic story) MLS 1996-05-16 H Colorado 3-0 W Giovanni Savarese 3 MLS 2000-08-26 A Dallas 6-4 W Clint Mathis 5 MLS 2000-09-09 A New England 3-4 L Alex Comas 3 MLS 2001-05-02 H Kansas City 4-1 W Clint Mathis 3 MLS 2002-06-15 H Los Angeles 5-0 W Mamadou Diallo 4 MLS 2005-04-30 A Colorado 3-1 W Amado Guevara 3 MLS 2005-08-21 H Chivas USA 3-3 D Amado Guevara 3 MLS 2006-05-20 H Chivas USA 5-4 W Jean-Philippe Peguero 3 MLS 2006-08-26 H Real Salt Lake 6-0 W Edson Buddle 3 MLS 2006-10-14 H Kansas City 3-2 W Amado Guevara 3 PHILADELPHIA UNION MLS 2010-04-10 H DC United 3-2 W Sebastien Le Toux 3 REAL SALT LAKE OC 2005-07-13 A Minnesota 4-6 L Jason Kreis 3 MLS 2009-04-02 H Columbus 4-1 W Robbie Findley 3 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MLS 2003-09-20 A Kansas City 4-1 W Landon Donovan 3 MLS 2003-09-27 H Dallas 5-2 W Dwayne De Rosario 3 MLS 2010-09-25 A Toronto 3-2 W Chris Wondolowski 3 MLS 2010-10-20 H Chivas USA 3-0 W Chris Wondolowski 3 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC MLS 2010-09-18 A Columbus 4-0 W Blaise Nkufo 3 TAMPA BAY MUTINY MLS 1996-08-03 H Colorado 3-1 W Roy Lassiter 3 MLS 1998-05-10 A New England 3-4 L Musa Shannon 3 MLS 2000-08-16 H New York 4-3 W Mamadou Diallo 3 MLS 2000-08-30 A Columbus 4-3 W Mamadou Diallo 3 MLS 2001-05-09 H Los Angeles 4-4 D Mamadou Diallo 4 TORONTO FC CAN 2009-06-18 A Montreal 6-1 W Dwayne De Rosario 3