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This is what VMI is staring at with three games remaining on the team's regular season schedule:
DATE | OPPONENT | OPPONENT RECORD | MASSEY WIN %* | MASSEY MEAN SCORE* |
April 17 | High Point | 6-6 | 3% | 6.20-14.89 |
April 19 | Canisius | 2-10 | 19% | 7.59-11.62 |
April 25 | v. Massachusetts-Lowell | 1-10 | 45% | 10.20-10.74 |
* Through games played on April 12, 2015.
Looking at VMI's record book, 2015 may stand as one of the most difficult seasons that the Keydets have struggled through in its 33 years of existence. Some things that stand out about VMI's campaign this year:
- No Keydets team has ever finished a season with more than 13 losses (VMI went 2-13 in 2010). If the above projections hold, the Keydets will finish with at least 14 losses in 2015. Importantly, though, LaxPower ranked VMI's schedule in 2010 as the 55th hardest out of 60 teams that season; the Keydets' slate in 2015 is currently ranked 42nd out of 69 in 2015, indicating that while VMI may accumulate more losses in 2015 compared to 2010, the Keydets faced a more competent run of opponents this season compared to a half-decade ago.
- The program's longest streak is 15 games, starting with a five-goal loss to Mount St. Mary's at the end of the 2003 season and stretching all the way to a two-goal win against Holy Cross in 2005. A winless 2015 campaign would match the program's longest losing streak, completing the task in a single season.
- VMI started playing a schedule populated only with Division I programs starting in 2008. From 2008 through 2014, the highest goals allowed per game average that the team had came in 2013 when the program yielded 14.85 buckets per contest. Through 12 games in 2015, the Keydets are giving up 15.25 goals per game.
- From 2008 through 2014, the lowest goals scored per game average that the team had came in 2014 when the program generated 6.21 buckets per contest. Through 12 games in 2015, the Keydets are only averaging 4.67 goals per game on the offensive end.
- VMI has experienced one winless season in its history -- 2004 witnessed the Keydets go 0-12 with an 0-8 mark in the MAAC, the season including a nine-goal defeat at the hands of Washington & Lee. 2015 -- with a much harder schedule than what VMI faced 11 years ago -- could match that ignominious record.
That's a lot of ugly stuff, but the good news is that VMI has three more cracks at changing its volition. Opportunities have vanished for the Keydets, but there are three more chances for VMI to find a little bit of heat in an otherwise bitterly cold season.