LA Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts has received plenty of praise from teammates after a great debut season in MLS.

The 33-year old Jamaica international was a key contributor as the Galaxy played off in the MLS Cup final last season, only to go down on penalties to Real Salt Lake but his performances did not go unnoticed by teammates who though his presence was a real factor in how well the side went in 2009.

"He's just a massive presence in front of the net," said midfielder Eddie Lewis. "He covers a lot of ground and it's hard to get the ball by him.

"I don't know how many games he saved for us."

Defender Todd Dunivant said: "I don't think too many people had heard of him, and it's difficult for a foreigner coming into this league, especially a goalkeeper making a big impact like he did. He really carried us in a lot of games and made the big saves when we needed them."

Even coach Bruce Arena was full of praise for the towering shot-stopper.

"I thought he'd be a very good goalkeeper in this league," Arena said. "He's better than I thought.

"I expected him to be very good, but I'm not quite sure as he good as he panned out to be," Arena added. "He's a great shot blocker, he's obviously good in the air and he has excellent distribution.

Ricketts said he was disappointed at missing out on success in the final last term but was confident the Galaxy was good enough to get back there again.

"I'm hopeful we can get back to MLS Cup," he said. "We have very good players and we play well together. We keep doing the things we did last season, I think we can get there again.

"It was very disappointing to come up short in the final. Hopefully we'll get another chance."