Should a team keep pounding their competition?

[tuffnstuff]

Opinions, please.

When a team is obviously superior to their opponent it is right to keep pounding the back of the net and drive up the score? In light of some of the recent wins around the Chattown area........11-0, 11-1,10-0, 9-0, 8-0, etc. is it right to rub the opponents face in it? What is gained by it? Just honestly looking for opinions out there............ think it would be interesting to hear from some coaches and players on the subject. Not meant to judge, just interested in opinions.

[dubyah]

I know a few Coaches that will not allow it and are well respected for that. They will pull starters at 3-0. Other kids get to play and then will only let it get up to 5 or 6. A Coach can control this with substituion and/or changing positions of the players, unless all of the players are that good. But, at the same time, it could hurt a player later in getting voted ALL-DISTRICT, REGION, STATE. If the Coach does not let them run up the stats, they don't get noticed. I think stats should be recogninzed in two different situations, one against a good team and one against a bad one.

[gscalf]

I think one factor leading to this, and I don't know the specific situation there in Chattown, is if one team in a district does it and there is going to be a tight race for 1st place in the district, it could end up going down to goal differential. That happened to my team my Junior year. I would find it hard to justify running the score up on anyone for any other reasons.

[gscalf]

I know a few Coaches that will not allow it and are well respected for that. They will pull starters at 3-0. Other kids get to play and then will only let it get up to 5 or 6. A Coach can control this with substituion and/or changing positions of the players, unless all of the players are that good. But, at the same time, it could hurt a player later in getting voted ALL-DISTRICT, REGION, STATE. If the Coach does not let them run up the stats, they don't get noticed. I think stats should be recogninzed in two different situations, one against a good team and one against a bad one.

 

Great points. It is hard for some colleges to recognize which teams their prospected players play against are good and which are below average. I can see how scoring a lot of goals could be justified for those reasons also. Some college coaches rely too much on stats like that and don't look at the meat of it, like which teams where quality competition and such.

[tiger68]

Great points. It is hard for some colleges to recognize which teams their prospected players play against are good and which are below average. I can see how scoring a lot of goals could be justified for those reasons also. Some college coaches rely too much on stats like that and don't look at the meat of it, like which teams where quality competition and such.

 

Scoring a lot of goals in high school games is generally not a factor a college coach looks at due to vast difference in competition high school teams play throughout the course of the year. Players are generally sized up for college by their play on select/travel teams where competition is much stronger. In particular, college coaches scout showcase tournaments, state select tournaments, regional/national select tournaments, and ODP tournaments. Thus, putting up large numbers in high school is not a factor. Finally, for this reason, there is no legitimate reason to purposely run up scores for the sake of college opportunites.

[gscalf]

Scoring a lot of goals in high school games is generally not a factor a college coach looks at due to vast difference in competition high school teams play throughout the course of the year. Players are generally sized up for college by their play on select/travel teams where competition is much stronger. In particular, college coaches scout showcase tournaments, state select tournaments, regional/national select tournaments, and ODP tournaments. Thus, putting up large numbers in high school is not a factor. Finally, for this reason, there is no legitimate reason to purposely run up scores for the sake of college opportunites.

 

Very true, I guess I didn't put much thought in to my post. I will say, however, the few of my girls that do go on and play college soccer do not play with a good club team. Soccer is still quite new with the small Seymour community and it's hard to get any type of feeder program going in a place where football is so important. The very few that do play in college are routinely asked for stats and a highlight tape. My girls don't go to big schools because they just aren't good enough, plainly. They've only been recruited by Division III schools. Maybe it isn't right or maybe it isn't just if that is a better word, but the coaches for the small Div. III colleges have always been more inclined to look at how many goals or assists or saves someone has, then decide whether or not they will come and watch them play a game. Since there is little recruiting going on in the first place for Div. III schools because they can't give out soccer scholarships, it is the player or coach's responsibility to contact the college and ask them to come watch the player play. Usually before they do that though they want to know the stats, and thus my reasoning for a player to put away some extra goals: it will help motivate a small college coach to come view the player, add incentive so to speak.

 

Also a previous point was it will help the player get All-Region or so, I hope that receiving awards like that, which coaches vote on, aren't digressed down to how many goals a player scores. Coaches especially should be more sensitive to the more fine-tuned aspects of the game when voting on those awards.

[mtnman]

Sometimes it is hard not to score. There are teams in Chattanooga that even the girls on the bench would score on some of the weaker teams.

 

You can put limits on them like only headers or several touches before a shot but it is just as embarasing to dribble through the defense, get to the goal and then turn around and clear the ball out because the coach has told you not to score.

 

It is the coaches responsibility to sub or even let some other girls play up front. If they are winning by five goals and the starting forwards are still in, the coach is trying to run up the score.

 

Goal differentials for tie breakers typically have a cap so that teams don't run up the score. In other words if Ooltewah beats Central 10-0, it really only counts as 3 or 4 goals if they go to a tie breaker situation. I am not 100% sure on the numbers but I know they do something like that.

[imthathard]

i dont think that running up the score is too bad unless the coach keeps his starters in for a long time....

i know some teams put their defenders up front and put Jv players in and like say only two touch or only one touch shots or crosses only so coaches try their best to not run up the score...and if the team really doesnt like to be scored on soo much they can always forfeit so...its up to the opposing team. sometimes games like that can help both teams out...the scoring team it will help work things they practice in practices and the opposing team it could help form things and learn from things to make them better....

i know when we played Dalton even though they beat us like 5-0 or something like that...we as a team learned from them scoring so much on us and we improved from that.

[BigG]

Well, there is running up the score, and there is RUNNING UP THE SCORE. What I mean by that, is that for some teams, running up the score is 8-10 goals, but I have seen some schools put up 15-20. In the guy's league, I have seen up to 26!

 

As far as boosting your stats, the prep xtra always lists the leading scorers, and sometimes you will have someone on there who has a bunch of goals... but they will score them 4 or 5 at a time against really weak teams. Give me a player that can score one goal on a top quality team, rather than someone who can score many on a poor team. A good college coach will look not only at how many they score, but on who they score against.

[Hoya]

Well, there is running up the score, and there is RUNNING UP THE SCORE. What I mean by that, is that for some teams, running up the score is 8-10 goals, but I have seen some schools put up 15-20. In the guy's league, I have seen up to 26!

 

As far as boosting your stats, the prep xtra always lists the leading scorers, and sometimes you will have someone on there who has a bunch of goals... but they will score them 4 or 5 at a time against really weak teams. Give me a player that can score one goal on a top quality team, rather than someone who can score many on a poor team. A good college coach will look not only at how many they score, but on who they score against.

 

Amen! The good coaches (high school and college) do know the difference and despite prepxtra "bragging rights", so do the players.

[Old Timer]

Amen! The good coaches (high school and college) do know the difference and despite prepxtra "bragging rights", so do the players.

 

I read an article recently about this in College Football. The article said that Lou Holtz, many, many years ago was ticked one year when Bobby Bowden at Florida State beat his team like a drum. Lou felt that he ran the score up on him. Lou said after the game he took it up with Bowden at midfield and Bowden's reply was......"It is my job to score. It is your job to stop me." Lou Holtz said he never questioned another blowout score again.

[kickgrass]

I think there are a lot of good points out here and I have mixed feelings regarding how to keep a score from "getting away". For one thing I've seen teams on the losing end that just give up and provide a minimum amount of defense and that snowballs. I generally feel that if a coach has pulled their starters and cleared the bench he/she should allow those players that in many cases get very little playing time to play at their best. For one thing those subs are trying to earn more playing time and want to show the coach what they can do. Even if the competition is below par. I've talked to several players and they feel insulted by a team just dribbling the ball all over the field to keep from scoring. They feel that it's a slap in the face and makes them look stupid. Watching that type of thing I'm often concerned about a player losing their temper and creating a "frustration injury". If a team can legetimately work on something, such as crosses or particular ideas they've been wanting to work on that's not bad. I personally prefer to see a team discreetly pull players off and play short sided. A coach can get a player coming by the bench and quietly tell them to step off and let the Ref know what he/she is doing. Most fans and many players never even notice the difference. Just my thoughts, but the bottom line is when good teams play lesser skilled teams the results just aren't pretty.