In today’s story on the Terrapin men’s soccer team, I wrote that last year’s team submitted it’s worst offensive output in a decade.
Since I couldn’t squeeze all the statistics into the story, here is the breakdown of what I found. I would go back further, but the umterps.com website only has stats starting from 1998 in men’s soccer.
| Year | Shots/Game | Goals/Game | Shots scored | Goals allowed |
| 2009 | 16.0 | 1.39 | 8% | 0.83 |
| 2008 | 15.6 | 1.92 | 12% | 0.69 |
| 2007 | 14.6 | 1.58 | 11% | 1.01 |
| 2006 | 15.4 | 1.73 | 11% | 0.71 |
| 2005 | 15.0 | 2.58 | 17% | 0.86 |
| 2004 | 15.9 | 2.40 | 15% | 1.01 |
| 2003 | 19.9 | 2.02 | 10% | 0.58 |
| 2002 | 15.0 | 2.40 | 16% | 0.82 |
| 2001 | 15.2 | 2.00 | 13% | 1.10 |
| 2000 | 15.9 | 2.10 | 13% | 0.85 |
As you can see, the 2009 Terps averaged the same amount of shots as previous years, but their accuracy fell complete short, not even breaking double-digits in percentage. The defense, while starting four new defenders, still held opponents to under a goal a game.
A few things that stick out (at least to me):
- The early 2000’s (up to 2005) the team routinely scored 2+ goals per game
- Throughout the decade, the Terps have hovered around 15 or 16 shots per game
-The key to a national championship? Scoring around two goals per game and hold opponents to less than one. But stats can only tell part of the story.
Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s men’s soccer beat reporter. Reach him at ceckard@umdbk.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ceckard.