Top Individual Performances (Week 7 WLAX)

0 Comment March 30, 2021

Each week, we will look back at the games that were to see which players had the largest individual performances. I say largest because the contributions that we can measure (from play by play) tend to be things that are easy to count. This includes, goals, shots, assists, turnovers, penalties, etc. We can’t measure a defender who shuts down an opposing player so completely that she doesn’t even touch the ball. Still, it is interesting to be able to identify the players that really filled it up each weekend and give them a shout out here.
For a bit of background, in order to rank single game performances, we needed a way to condense box score stats to a single number for each player. In order to do this, we relied on our expected goal values methodology, which assigns a goal value to each type of play depending on how often it leads to a goal in the next 60 seconds. By adding up all the expected goals added for each player, we can get to that single number and these rankings.
We have also tagged each performance with the opponent’s ELO rating. The higher the number, the stronger the opponent. This should help to give some context for each performance. Did the player feast on the dregs of D1 or did they put up these numbers against a quality opponent?
A quick note: whenever you see the PRO logo () a click will take you directly to the player’s PRO page. In some cases, you’ll see the “unlocked” PRO logo () which tells you that the player’s team is unlocked and you’ll be able to see all the PRO content.
Top Single Game Scores of the week
#1 – Siena Gore (Kennesaw State) – 12.90 goals added Mar 26 vs Wofford Opp ELO: 740 13 draws and 9 goals. That’ll do it. It’s Gore’s 2nd game this year with a +10 EGA mark. She’s the only player with 2 such games in 2021. So far in 2021, her per-game EGA figure is up 50% from last season (7.46 vs 5.01 last year). And it’s because of several small things. Her shooting percentage is up almost 2 points. She’s taking an extra shot / game this year. And her turnover rate is down from .44 to .33. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 99th Total EGA 99th Offensive EGA 99th Excess Goals 99th eGoals/Shot 89th Shooting Percentage 87th Shot-on-Goal Rate 51st Play Shares 99th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 9 0 13 GBs Draw Controls SOG 4 13 10 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 4 4 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 99th Total EGA 99th Offensive EGA 99th Excess Goals 99th eGoals/Shot 89th Shooting Percentage 87th Shot-on-Goal Rate 51st Play Shares 99th PRO Definitions
#2 – Izzy Liquori (UMass Lowell) – 7.99 goals added Mar 27 vs New Hampshire Opp ELO: 1296 UML won aclose battle against New Hampshire to snag their 3rd win of the year. To get over the hump, they relied heavily on Liquori, who finished with her highest play share of the year (18.8%). She’s shooting just as well as last season, but in a much larger role. She’s averaging 7.8 attempts per game, which is up from 5 last year. And it’s working. UML’s offensive efficiency is up nearly 4 percentage points over 2020. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 98th Total EGA 80th Offensive EGA 75th Excess Goals 13th eGoals/Shot 35th Shooting Percentage 26th Shot-on-Goal Rate 37th Play Shares 93rd PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 5 1 11 GBs Draw Controls SOG 0 11 6 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 2 2 1 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 98th Total EGA 80th Offensive EGA 75th Excess Goals 13th eGoals/Shot 35th Shooting Percentage 26th Shot-on-Goal Rate 37th Play Shares 93rd PRO Definitions
#3 – Alexis Kiefer (Akron) – 7.97 goals added Mar 23 vs Presbyterian Opp ELO: 810 The highlight of this performance was the 58% shooting mark, the highest she’s hit all year. And it continues to be one of the biggest signs of improvement from year to year. Her 2021 shooting mark is 40.4%, up from 25% last year. When you are able to do that, while taking more shots (7.1 vs 2.9), that’s a sign of true skill development. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 92nd Total EGA 74th Offensive EGA 71st Excess Goals 18th eGoals/Shot 44th Shooting Percentage 37th Shot-on-Goal Rate 27th Play Shares 97th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 7 0 12 GBs Draw Controls SOG 1 1 9 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 1 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 92nd Total EGA 74th Offensive EGA 71st Excess Goals 18th eGoals/Shot 44th Shooting Percentage 37th Shot-on-Goal Rate 27th Play Shares 97th PRO Definitions
#4 – Gabby Fornia (Vanderbilt) – 7.19 goals added Mar 28 vs East Carolina Opp ELO: 1164 Gabby Fornia has worked herself into a facilitator role quite nicely this season. She’s averaging 3.09 assists per game, up from 1.9 last year. She’s shooting a bit less than last year, but in terms of productivity, it’s a good trade-off. The key though, is that while she’s increased her assists, her turnover rate has fallen. Having someone take a less active shooting role is only a good thing if they are creating quality chances for their teammates. Having nearly halved her turnover rate since last season, it’s clear that Fornia has done just that. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 92nd Total EGA 80th Offensive EGA 82nd Excess Goals 27th eGoals/Shot 50th Shooting Percentage 53rd Shot-on-Goal Rate 68th Play Shares 95th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 3 9 4 GBs Draw Controls SOG 2 0 4 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 2 0 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 92nd Total EGA 80th Offensive EGA 82nd Excess Goals 27th eGoals/Shot 50th Shooting Percentage 53rd Shot-on-Goal Rate 68th Play Shares 95th PRO Definitions
#5 – Maddie McDaniel (USC) – 7.08 goals added Mar 28 vs Oregon Opp ELO: 1305 Against Oregon, the Trojans enjoyed a +13 possession advantage. It was the 2nd highest margin they managed this year. Maddie McDaniel was a big part of that, contributing 13 draw controls to go along with her 5 points. On the year though, the thing that impresses the most about McDaniel’s season is ball security. After posting an individual turnover rate of .81 last year, she’s managed to get that figure down to .17 this year. So she’s taking fewer shots this year and has the same number of per game assists, but because of the lack of turnovers, her productivity is way up (3.4 EGA/gm compared to 1.8 last year) Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 84th Total EGA 96th Faceoff EGA 99th Excess Goals 7th Shooting Percentage 59th Faceoff Win% 99th Faceoff Elo N/A Play Shares 75th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 4 1 6 GBs Draw Controls SOG 2 13 5 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 84th Total EGA 96th Faceoff EGA 99th Excess Goals 7th Shooting Percentage 59th Faceoff Win% 99th Faceoff Elo N/A Play Shares 75th PRO Definitions
#6 – Stephanie Kelly (Saint Joseph’s) – 6.95 goals added Mar 26 vs La Salle Opp ELO: 1357 First game of the year for Kelly with 0 turnovers. And in every other way it was a full day; the 2 GBs and 8 points were a big part of getting the win over the Explorers. Kelly is another one of those players who has seen a significantly larger role since last season. Her weighted play share is 13.7% in 2021, up from just 7.8% last year. And she’s used those extra touches to increase her goals / game average by 1.29 and her assists / game mark by 1.43. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 91st Total EGA 94th Offensive EGA 96th Excess Goals 44th eGoals/Shot 81st Shooting Percentage 82nd Shot-on-Goal Rate 60th Play Shares 89th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 5 3 7 GBs Draw Controls SOG 2 0 6 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 1 1 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 91st Total EGA 94th Offensive EGA 96th Excess Goals 44th eGoals/Shot 81st Shooting Percentage 82nd Shot-on-Goal Rate 60th Play Shares 89th PRO Definitions
#7 – Eliza Soutter (Colgate) – 6.88 goals added Mar 27 vs Lafayette Opp ELO: 1234 This was a pretty dominant day for Colgate all-around, but it also seems to be the day when they decided to cut Soutter loose. She took 12 shots in this game which doubled her previous high this season. It’s not like she hasn’t earned the chances; her 68.8% shooting mark puts her in the 89th percentile among qualified players this season. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 90th Total EGA 68th Offensive EGA 72nd Excess Goals 97th eGoals/Shot 89th Shooting Percentage 90th Shot-on-Goal Rate 74th Play Shares 90th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 9 1 12 GBs Draw Controls SOG 2 0 11 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 1 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 90th Total EGA 68th Offensive EGA 72nd Excess Goals 97th eGoals/Shot 89th Shooting Percentage 90th Shot-on-Goal Rate 74th Play Shares 90th PRO Definitions
#8 – Emma Vinall (American) – 6.73 goals added Mar 24 vs Longwood Opp ELO: 1226 American finally got win number 1 in this game, and despite the opponent, you can still see signs of improvement from the offense overall. Against GW (def rank: 102), they scored on 36.$% of their possessions. Against Longwood (def rank: 103), that number was 43.5%. On an opponent-adjusted basis, their offensive efficiency has gone up in every game this year. Still, they are nowhere near the heights of last year yet, in large part because their shooting percentage is a full 4 percentage points worse than in 2020. Now that said, their schedule has been quite a bit tougher than last year. In 2021, the average LaxElo rating of their opponents has been 1528. Last year it was just 973. So far, 2021 has been the toughest set of opponents they’ve faced since at least 2014. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 99th Total EGA 98th Offensive EGA 97th Excess Goals 99th eGoals/Shot 88th Shooting Percentage 86th Shot-on-Goal Rate 59th Play Shares 97th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 7 2 12 GBs Draw Controls SOG 0 6 10 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 1 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 99th Total EGA 98th Offensive EGA 97th Excess Goals 99th eGoals/Shot 88th Shooting Percentage 86th Shot-on-Goal Rate 59th Play Shares 97th PRO Definitions
#9 – Sarah Lubnow (Virginia Tech) – 6.65 goals added Mar 23 vs Radford Opp ELO: 1045 Lubnow did a bit of everything for the Hokies against Radford on Tuesday. She had a season-high 6 assists and a season-high 3 goals on a season-high 7 shots. And the team hit a season-high for offensive efficiency too: 41.3%. Coincidence? Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 83rd Total EGA 87th Offensive EGA 88th Excess Goals 10th eGoals/Shot 48th Shooting Percentage 46th Shot-on-Goal Rate 51st Play Shares 74th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 3 6 7 GBs Draw Controls SOG 1 0 3 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 1 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 83rd Total EGA 87th Offensive EGA 88th Excess Goals 10th eGoals/Shot 48th Shooting Percentage 46th Shot-on-Goal Rate 51st Play Shares 74th PRO Definitions
#10 – Erica Skowron (American) – 6.60 goals added Mar 24 vs Longwood Opp ELO: 1226 Such is a nature of a lop-sided win, but American landed 2 players on the list this week. Skowron bounced back from a negative EGA game against Lehigh to post a lights out 7 for 7 shooting day against Longwood. Skowron has been taking more difficult shots this year; her shooting percentage is down more than 4 percentage points, but her excess goals mark is unchanged. Excess goals accounts for the probability that a shot would go in, so the fact that she’s level on that metric means her shooting hasn’t declined, but the quality of her chances has. Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 76th Total EGA 86th Offensive EGA 86th Excess Goals 17th eGoals/Shot 57th Shooting Percentage 50th Shot-on-Goal Rate 39th Play Shares 75th PRO Definitions Box Score Stats Goals Assists Shots 7 0 7 GBs Draw Controls SOG 0 0 7 Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 0 Career Stat Percentile EGA/game 76th Total EGA 86th Offensive EGA 86th Excess Goals 17th eGoals/Shot 57th Shooting Percentage 50th Shot-on-Goal Rate 39th Play Shares 75th PRO Definitions