Crunching the Numbers- Vancouver

During the course of the off-season, we heard a lot of talk about Garth Lagerwey building RSL 2.0. I think that no one can deny that this version of RSL has been more successful than any of us thought it could be. But we didn't see RSL 2.0 on the field in Vancouver. The team that went up there and came home with only the second win in club history North of the border was RSL 3.0.

Back in June I wrote my thoughts about RSL 3.0. MLS does not give any types of awards for General Manager of the year. If they did, Lagerwey should win hands down. Not only for building a team competing for three trophies right now, but also for building an even brighter future for RSL in the coming years. Now on to the numbers!

• RSL has now scored 54 goals on the season or a goal every 51.67 minutes. With 54 goals RSL is the top scoring team in the league.
• The team has given up 39 goals on the year or a goal every 71.54 minutes.
• RSL currently has a goal differential of +15 which is tied for the best in the league. It has a +1 goal differential on the road which is also tied for best in the league.
• The team is currently scoring 1.87 goals a game at home and 1.63 goals a game on the road.
• RSL has now had 13 different players score in MLS play. They have 9 players that have 3 or more goals scored! 
• Devon Sandoval and Olmes Garcia have played 397 minutes together. During that time RSL has scored 9 goals or a goal every 44.11 minutes. That is the third best goal scoring rate for all the striker partnerships this year.
• Chris Schuler has now played 1170 minutes. During that time RSL has given up 13 goals or a goal every 90.00 minutes. This is the best among all RSL defenders. 

It is crazy to think about how many options that Jason Kreis has when selecting who will be playing week to week. There is a stark difference between this season and last. In 2012 RSL only had 10 different players score goals and only 5 of those had 3 or more goals. In RSL history, there has been only one season where more than 13 players have scored (2007 with 14). And never before has RSL had so many players with 3 or more goals. The previous best was 6 players in 2010. The team has smashed that record this season.

The return to health by Schuler could be just the thing that the RSL defense needs. As mentioned above, when Schuler plays RSL gives up a goal every 90.00. When he has not played, RSL has been giving up a goal every 62.31 minutes. That is a pretty big difference. It will be interesting to see how much more playing time he gets between now and the end of the season. 

One last note in regards to Lagerwey and the work he did to rebuild RSL this year. In the off-season RSL lost four players (Will Johnson, Jamison Olave, Johnny Steele and Fabian Espindola) that all played major minutes for the team. Those four players this season have gone on to score 23 times for their new clubs. In comparison, DC United as a whole has only scored 20 times. Those were major shoes to fill and Lagerwey did it. Not only did he improve this year's team, but with RSL 3.0 the future is bright.