University of Georgia Athletics
Inside the Numbers: Soccer's Shutout Streak
October 19, 2010 | Soccer
Oct. 19, 2010
By KEVIN COPP
Georgia's Ashley Baker, in her first year as a starting goalkeeper for the No. 20 Bulldogs, has already put her name into some elite company in the Georgia soccer record books by going 561 minutes and 8 seconds consecutively without allowing a goal.
The streak began inauspiciously as Georgia fell behind Kentucky 1-0 in Athens back on October 1st. With 34:25 on the clock in the first half, Kelsey Hunyadi took a pass from Caitlin Landis and beat Baker in the bottom left corner of the Georgia goal. Baker recorded five more saves during a scoreless stretch of 99 minutes and 25 seconds on that Friday night. Alexa Newfield tied the game late in the first half to knot the score at 1-1, where it remained after 110 minutes of play.
Baker and the Georgia defense never looked back, recording consecutive shutouts against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and South Carolina. The Ole Miss contest in Oxford required a little more of Baker, as she kept the Rebels off the board for a full 110 minutes in a scoreless draw, even making a save at point blank with just seconds left on the second overtime clock to preserve the clean sheet.
On Sunday, Georgia was 8:13 away from its fifth consecutive SEC shutout until Florida's Erika Tymrak got loose about 40 yards out and dribbled inside the 18-yard box before firing a shot past Baker on the right side, bringing the historic streak to a close.
Though Baker was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts during the streak, she was certainly not alone in the effort. Georgia's quartet of defensive players Kelli Corless, Bailey Powell, Torri Allen, and Rebekah Perry started each of the six games during the streak, and Jenna Buckleyand Nikki played significant minutes on the back line during the shutout victory over Mississippi State. Georgia's backs were especially effective in locking down the two top scorers in the SEC - South Carolina's Kayla Grimsley and Florida's Tahnai Annis - allowing the pair only one combined shot on goal.
Now that the streak is final, here are a handful of ways to put the historic five hundred sixty-one minutes and eight seconds into perspective:
- Baker's scoreless stretch lasted for all or part of six different games, though the total time that elapsed between goals is actually longer than six full regulation games (540:00).
- The streak is the longest of its kind by any goalkeeper in the SEC this season, and No. 3 North Carolina and No. 25 Denver are the only schools in the NSCAA top-25 with a chance to pass Georgia's mark this season. The Tar Heels (444:16) and Pioneers (460:38) have both recorded four straight shutouts entering this weekend's play, and both teams are still more than 100 scoreless minutes away from catching up to the Bulldogs. No other top-25 team has had a streak anywhere close to Baker's this season.
- Baker made a total of 25 saves during the streak, and Georgia's defense allowed only 59 total shots over the span.
- The shutout streak is the longest of its kind in SEC play in the history of Georgia soccer. The four consecutive shutouts in conference play that formed the majority of the streak (Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and South Carolina) are also a school record.
- Exactly 100 goals were scored across the SEC in between the two goals that Baker allowed; Georgia accounted for 7 of the 100.
- While teams could not get anything past Baker, Georgia's offense was having a great run of success. Alexa Newfield led the way for the Bulldogs with three goals during Baker's streak - the game-tying goal against Kentucky, and game winners at Mississippi State and South Carolina.
- The streak tied Georgia's school record for the longest unbeaten start in SEC play (6 games, matching the record set in 2007).
- The scoreless stretch lasted for 16 days (October 1 to October 17) and the Bulldogs traveled a total of 1,381 miles to play games in four different cities (Oxford, Starkville, Columbia, and Gainesville) during the span.
- Georgia soccer does not have a single road trip during the regular season that takes longer than 561 minutes and 8 seconds. The Bulldogs flew to San Francisco for a weekend tournament at Stanford (approximately 319 minutes), and the longest drive of 2010 will be to the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama (approximately 447 minutes).
- Across all of Georgia athletics, five different teams (football, soccer, volleyball, men's golf, and women's cross country) combined for nine victories between the two goals Baker allowed.
- The Georgia football team has only played 420 minutes of football during their entire 2010 season. They will not have played 561 minutes and 8 seconds until the second quarter of the Idaho State game on November 6.
- If you took the time from Georgia cross country standout Kristie Krueger's 6k at this weekend's NCAA Pre-Nationals and extrapolated it, Krueger could have run 102 miles during the length of the soccer shutout streak.
Despite the phenomenal success of Baker's play since October began, one of the most interesting facts about the streak is how far away Baker and the Bulldogs were from breaking the all-time Georgia shutout streak. In 1999, Nicole Williams registered over 750 consecutive shutout minutes in goal, as the Bulldogs did not give up a score through the first eight games of the season.
The No. 20 Bulldogs will look to start another streak when they get back to action this Thursday night against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Georgia has not allowed a goal to the Crimson Tide since 2007, so there will be another streak for Baker and the Georgia defense to keep intact.
Kevin Copp is the play-by-play voice of Georgia soccer for georgiadogs.com.