Savarese, 1996

On April 13, 1996, Giovanni Savarese became the first ever goalscorer in Metro history, in a 2:1 loss at Los Angeles. On May 30, 1996, A.J. Wood became the second ever goal scorer (not counting an own goal) in Metro history, by tallying in a 2:1 win against DC. By that point, Savarese had scored eight goals: he grabbed the franchise lead that he wouldn't relinquish for a long, long time.

Savarese's last goal for Metro came in a rather forgettable 4:3 loss to Columbus on September 6, 1998. Metro was in a middle of a six-game losing streak that eventually cost Alfonso Mondelo his job. Gio actually scored twice in the game, bringing his overall total to 41 in league play and 44 in all competitions.

When Clint Mathis tore it up for Metro in 2000, we thought that he would obliterate Gio's mark. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL a year later, and ended his Metro stint in 2003 with 39 goals in all competitions, five shy of Savarese. When Mathis returned in 2007, the record was within his grasp. On August 18, in what has been dubbed "The Beckham Game", Mathis struck on a volley late in the first half to even the match at 2:2 and flash 4 and 5 fingers: it was his 45th in all competitions. 4 and 5 were wild in the game, as that Metro won by that score. Mathis never scored another goal for Metro.

The game-winner in that game was scored by Juan Pablo Angel, and it became clear that the Cherubic Assassin will challenge both Gio's and Mathis' records. After scoring 19 and 14 league goals his first two seasons (20 and 16 in all competitions), the prize was in sight. Alas, Metro's awfulness in 2009 did not help Angel, as both he and the team struggled under the supposed genius of Juan Carlos Osorio. When the note-taker quit, the team immediately played better, beating Dallas 3:2 on August 23 to end a disgusting 16-game winless streak. Angel scored twice in that game; his winner, late in the match, was the 42nd in league play. (The scorers for Dallas? Dax McCarty and Dave van den Bergh. You can't make that up.) A month later, on September 26, in a 1:1 road tie at Chivas USA, Angel got the all competition record with his 46th.

Angel's last league goal for Metro came in a 2:0 road win against Los Angeles on September 24, 2010 to give him 58. In all competitions, it came in a game we would rather forget, the late playoff series equalizer that was not to be, on November 4 of that year in a 3:1 loss to San Jose. It was his 62nd and final for the team.

And now... you know where this is going. When Bradley Wright-Phillips started his Metro career slowly, some were quick to write him off as the lesser of the WP brothers. Those some were completely wrong, as 2014 saw BWP obliterate single-season records with 27 in league, 31 in all competitions. By the middle of 2016, both records were in sight. On July 31, BWP scored in the 90th minute to tie Chicago 2:2 and give him 63 in all competitions. Two weeks later, on August 13, he scored twice in a 3:1 win over Montreal. The second goal, a header from a Sean Davis cross, gave BWP 59 in league play.

Wright-Phillips kept scoring and scoring, setting the bar incredibly high. His las goal, a stoppage-time equalizer in a 3:3 tie at Atlanta, on July 7, 2019, was his 108th in league and 126th in all competitions. Will someone ever write his name above BWP on the record charts? It will definitely take a while...

League				All Competitions
	Giovanni Savarese	41			Giovanni Savarese	44
⮟				⮟
	Juan Pablo Angel	58			Clint Mathis	45
⮟				⮟
	Bradley Wright-Phillips	108			Juan Pablo Angel	62
				⮟
					Bradley Wright-Phillips	126