In a 34-game Major League Soccer season, it's a given that there are a plethora of numbers that will emerge from just a long campaign.
Tack on Open Cup matches, international club friendlies and more and what you get is a cornucopia of cool statistics and other digits to choose from. Of course we all know about the 51 goals scored this season by the club in MLS matches, or the 11-11-12 season ending record in League play, but beyond the obvious there are some others that sum up a season that leaves a lot of expectations for what 2015 will look like under new head coach Jim Curtin and a 30-man roster that has a nucleus, but is still yet to be solidified.
29: Number of players seeing action in an MLS game. From Ray Gaddis’ 34 games to Jimmy McLaughlin’s one minute, the Union matched a team record for most players to see the field during the season.
11: Number of players who made their Union debut this season. Headlined by Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira, the Union had plenty of new faces on the field this year. But those two were absolute staples in the lineup, starting 31 and 28 games, respectively, both of which were in the top five for the team this year. And then there was mid-season acquisition Andrew Wenger, who wasted little time introducing himself to the Union faithful:
3,051: Number of minutes Ray Gaddis logged this year in MLS action. The dependable defender played all but nine minutes this season – including the team’s lengthy U.S. Open Cup run – leading all players in MLS. He became just the second outfield player in franchise history to start every single game, joining Sebastien Le Toux who accomplished that feat in 2011.
15: Number of players to score. There were a bunch of newcomers, too, such as Zach Pfeffer who became the fourth youngest player in franchise history (at 19 years, nine months) to score a goal. In all, eight players notched their first-ever Union goal including the aforementioned Nogueira, who scored an absolute howler against New England on May 17, which was nominated by MLS for the AT&T Goal of the year:
100: Number of individual starts. During the 2014 season, the Union had two players reach the century mark for career games started: Zac MacMath (Oct. 11, vs. Columbus) and Amobi Okugo (Oct. 18, vs. Sporting Kansas City). MacMath became the youngest goalkeeper in MLS history to reach 100, dethroning D.C. United’s Bill Hamid by six months. MacMath was also just the 25th keeper in league history to reach that number. Okugo became just the fourth outfield player in Union history to reach that number.
301: Number of individual starts, Part II. Brian Carroll became just the sixth player in MLS history to start 300 games. He did that on Sept. 13 against the New York Red Bulls. He now stands at 301, just 16 shy of passing Pablo Mastroeni for third all-time.
299,730: Total home attendance. The Union were just shy of 300,000 in 17 MLS games for an average of 17,631. They finished the year 10th in the league.
The records
51:
Number of goals the Union scored this season. As mentioned earlier, they had 12 different players led by Le Toux’s 12. But it was the all-around depth at the squad that saw multiple players chip in to shatter 2011’s record of 44 goals.
47: Number of assists. The team handily broke this record, too, set last year with 41. The team handed out more than three assists in five different games, headlined by the five they put together in a 3-3 draw against Vancouver. They were led by newcomer Cristian Maidana, who handed out 11 – one shy of the team record held by Le Toux – in just 26 games. That was good for seventh in MLS. Fellow playmaker Le Toux had seven assists, tied for 21st in the league.
467: Number of shots attempted. Typically an overlooked stat that’s starting to carry some weight in soccer’s advanced metrics, the Union attempted the seventh most shots in the league en route to breaking last year’s mark of 459. They needed every game, though, topping the record in the finale against Columbus.
153: Number of shots on goal. Not surprisingly the Union broke this record, too, on the last day of the season. Again, it was a balanced attack led by Wenger with 23. Five other players had at least 10 on target.
211: Number of corner kicks attempted – which led MLS. Only two teams were even within 30 of the Union as New England finished just behind with 209 and Houston finished with 185. The Union shattered the previous franchise mark held by both the 2012 and 2013 teams that took 172. Leading the way was Maidana, who took a franchise record 97 corners – good for 10th in the league this season. Le Toux also took 77 this year, 16th best in MLS.
Contact Union writer Chris Winkler at cwinkler@philadelphiaunion.com
