Quick Play Soccer Tryout

After tweaking the quick play soccer rules on TMP, I played a couple of practice games. I created two teams. Team A became the Dayton Aeros and Team B became the Baltimore Bullets (they were originally team names from my 1980s Strat-o-Matic baseball league). Their stats are:

Team	Midfield	Offense	Defense	Goalie
Aeros	3	4	2	3
Bullets	3	2	4	3

When I first created the teams, I thought that their offense and defense scores would balance out. I quickly realized that I was wrong and that the Aeros' offense trumped the Bullets' defense. If the Aeros could get a shot they had a much greater likelihood of scoring than the Bullets did. This advantage played true to form in the first game, which the Aeros won 4-0.

The second game initially seemed like it would be a repeat of the first. The Aeros quickly grabbed control and went on offense. Excellent defense by the Bullets stymied the attack. Shortly thereafter, the Aeros regained control but the Bullets stole the ball and went on offense themselves. Unfortunately, their weak forward line could not maintain the momentum. Once again, the Aeros went on attack, they advanced up the field, and drilled the ball at the goalie. It was blocked and ricocheted up the field. The Bullets made a run, shot, and scored! 1-0 late in the first half. The Aeros made a half-hearted attack but the whistle blew and the half ended.

Frustrated by the fluke goal, the Aeros rushed to the attack in the second half. They pushed upfield and shot! The shot rebounded; an Aero gained control and shot again. Another rebound! This time, the Bullets grabbed possession and made another run at the Bullets goal. Shot and score! 2-0 early in the second half. After this, the Aeros pressed even harder. Time and again they launched shots on goal, but the goalie knocked them aside or smothered them. The Bullets goal was like an impenetrable wall! Finally, exhausted by their efforts, the Aeros lost control. The Bullets moved forward into Aero territory and then killed the clock. Final score: Bullets-2 Aeros-0.

I kept some stats throughout the game:

Team	Poss.	Shots	Goals
Aeros	7	11	0
Bullets	4	3	2

Interestingly, the Aeros really dominated the game, but they just could not score.