That Was Then This is Now; Comparing Last Year’s Thunder to This Year’s Stars
I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at some stats comparing last year’s 2009 Minnesota Thunder team to this year’s 2010 NSC Stars team.
Thanks to Tom who left a comment on IMS the other day and inspired me to do a little digging.
With only three months to put together this team from scratch, let’s compare the numbers.
–Thunder ’09 won only 7 games and accumulated 31 points.
–Stars ’10 wins 11 games and end up with 40 points.
Last year the Thunder recorded a 7-13-10 season with a -5 goal differential and scored 39 goals for allowing 44.
This year the Stars recorded a 11-12-7 season with a -4 goal differential and scored 32 goals for allowing 36.
At home the ’09 Thunder were 5-6-4 with 24 goals scored and 18 allowed.
At home the Stars were 6-6-3 with 13 goals scored and 16 allowed.
Away the ’09 Thunder were 2-7-6 with 15 goals scored and 26 allowed.
Away the Stars were 5-6-4 with 19 goals scored and 20 allowed.
While the Stars’ home record was slightly better, it was their away record that seemed to have made the difference this year.
Congratulations to Head Coach Manny Lagos, assistant coach Carl Craig, player/coach Kevin Friedland, General Manger Kris Bjerkness and all players and staff of the Stars. Not bad for a team that had numerous naysayers claiming early on that they would not win a game all season.
Coming soon: The DuNord – IMS “NSC Stars Player Awards for 2010″
Comments are closed.
Thanks BQ. I’d just like to add a quick Thank You to the players who have put it all out there. The Coaches and Players were a great team. I really hope there’s an investor out there who is willing to join in to secure a spot for our MN team among the NASL D2 teams. However, if that doesn’t work out I hope the NSC will at least join the USP PRO. Let’s go MN!
NSC Stars had the benefit of playing against two expansion teams (St. Louis and Tampa Bay) and newly-promoted Crystal Palace Baltimore, going 6-2-2 in those games and 5-10-5 against everyone else.
MN Soccer guy, you prove my point. They went 6-2-2 against those 3-teams which in my book is a feather in their hat. Look around the league for results and you will see that even the better teams occasionally slipped to those new teams.
Also, MN will finish higher then Puerto Rico who have been in the league since 2004 and finished closely to Montreal (1997). I would guess both teams most likely had payrolls 2 to 3 times as high.
As I stated previously, congratulations to the Stars.
Thanks for putting a positive twist on things MN Soccer Putz. Are you saying we should thank Claude Anelka for the gifts early on in the season?
Your point was that the difference between the Stars and Thunder was the former’s away record. My contention is that a weaker schedule had more to do with it.
Curious what NSC’s payroll actually was. Since the club is a non-profit, that should be public information.
Im glad the Stars were around this season and had some success. The big difference I see, based on the stats provided, are in regard to overall goals; those for and against.
Now as a soccer fan I can appreciate a well played nil-nil draw but little kids and the causal soccer fan like to see goals and lots of them. Success is good, but in the current American soccer climate goals reign. More expansive, attacking football may not bring about as many wins but it may make for a more entertaining on-field product.