By BRIAN LEWIS

Everton keeper Tim Howard _ a North Brunswick (NJ) grad and ex-MetroStar _ was named U.S. soccer’s 2008 Male Athlete of the Year. It’s the highest individual honor a soccer player can get in this country, so nice work Tim-may.

Howard was brilliant during the last round of World Cup qualifying, with three straight clean sheets against Guatemala, Cuba, and Trinidad & Tobago _ the former giving the U.S. it’s first-ever qualifiing win in that country. But his most impressive performance was probably the 0-0 friendly draw with Argentina here at Giants Stadium, where he shut out the top-ranked team in the world in front of 70,000.