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Soccer stat question ...

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Rhody31, Oct 23, 2007.

  1. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    Goalkeeper comes out to get ball, gets beat, player shoots, ball knocked away by defender that's not the goalkeeper.

    Does the defensive player get credit for a save? Had he whiffed, it was in the back of the net.
     
  2. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    No save credited.

    Or better yet, you could not bother tracking saves. It's meaningless.
     
  3. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    Except this isn't baseball.
     
  4. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Active Member

    I would agree with no save credited. I'm no stat expert, but I figure that only goalies can get saves. The defender saved a goal and it should be mentioned in the story, but in a statistical sense I don't think it is technically a save.
     
  5. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    Not sure what that means, Rhody. I'm just saying that the number of saves isn't terribly relevant to a soccer story. It, unlike baseball, isn't a game that lends itself to stats.
     
  6. bydesign77

    bydesign77 Active Member

    I know what you mean. I officiated a game last season that was a tell-tale (or is it tell-tell or tale-tell?) sign that soccer stats are meaningless. If there was time of possesion, it would have been 79:42-:18. Shots were like 29-1. The team with the one shot won. On a breakaway goal in the 80th minute. Crazy.
     
  7. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

    I think saves in soccer is totally relevant, especially when determining the keeper's productivity. Sure, goals allowed reflect the defensive unit, not just the keeper. But the keeper is the last line of defense, and if Sam Jones has 19 saves and allowed one goal, it gives a fairly accurate description of how valuable he's been.

    The same thing can be said for a person who allows five goals on seven shots. There, you could assume, the defense played tremendously well, considering a low number of shots were attempted, and the keeper was almost completely inept.


    And the save in baseball reference was made to exploit the "weak" rules for closers, who can allow two runs in a three-run ninth inning -- or so -- and still get credit for the save. At least that's one of the many reasons.
     
  8. GB-Hack

    GB-Hack Active Member

    Our high school boxes have them, so coaches and our writers know to keep track.
     
  9. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    According to this site, it's a "team save"

    It's under "goalkeeper."

    http://www.nmsoccer.com/users/nms/Data/official2007soccerstatisticsrules.pdf
     
  10. Rhouston

    Rhouston Member

    When I used to help out with keeping soccer stats at my college, we credited a non-goalie save as "TEAM." For example:

    Saves: Tampon Tech -- A. Phucker - 8, TEAM - 1
     
  11. Sandoval

    Sandoval Member

    Correct in NCAA also. It's a team save, but does not count towards any individual player. It does count in the team's save percentage.

    See page 8:
    http://www.ncaa.org/library/statistical/soccer_stats_manual/2007/2007_soccer_stats_manual.pdf
     
  12. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    That's very strange that the NCAA would do that. I can't imagine they have an equivalent stat for hockey, in which a defenseman might clear a puck off the line or be struck with a goal-bound puck just as easily as in soccer.
     
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