No championship hangover here. Once again, we have Charlotte North at the top of this list. The thing that I really love about this performance is not the raw numbers, which are great, but the efficiency of it. 7 goals came on 11 shots. No turnovers. The usage-adjusted EGA works out to 3.24, which is just off-the-charts for an individual player’s efficiency.

She’s just playing this game on another level.

Kenzie Sklar introduced herself in a big way against Butler. Seems like she’s going to be a much bigger factor in the Kent State offense this season. Last year, her play share percentage (i.e. usage-rate) was just 6.7%. In this game at least, it was 16.5%. And there were some clues that she might be a breakout player this year. Even at the lower play share, in 2021, her individual player efficiency (uaEGA) was in the 84th percentile.

The first of two players to make this list out of the YSU/Duquesne game, Natalie Calandra-Ryan has been a force in her 2 games so far. The freshman from Auburn, NY scored 6 goals on 8 shots in this one. The 4 turnovers will definitely be something to work on, but with 15 draw controls, she was absolutely a net positive.

It’s exciting to see young programs like Youngstown getting young players that can have an immediate impact.

14 draw controls is the key stat here. Last year, Hopkins won just 43% of their draws. In 2020, it was just 39%. Even accounting for the relative weakness of VCU in the draw game, their opponent-adjusted win rate is still 70.6%. Given the state of their draw game the last several years, that marks a huge improvement.

When W&M plays well, it has tended to be the Belle Martire show, but Villanova limited her to just 3 shots and 4 turnovers. Lauren Russell was there to take advantage of the defense’s attention being elsewhere.

Through 2 games, the team’s adj-offensive efficiency is 29.3%, up from 25.9% last year and 23.1% in ’20. It’s not enough to have a player like Martire; for an offense to really progress, they need to have other options for when the defense tries to take away plan A. Looks like maybe W&M has found just that.

The Cardinal salvaged game 2 of their NY swing with the win over Albany. And Humphrey was the leading light. When a player like Ali Baiocco has to miss games, I’m always curious to see how the other plays fit into the various roles. It’s a sort of natural experiment. And if a coach is lucky, players fit into new roles like a glove.

My gut is that the Stanford coaching staff new what they had in Humphrey, but the rest of the world got to see it against Albany too.

So far, through 2 games, DeSimone has doubled her usage rate over last season. This year, her play share percentage is 11.8%, compared to 5.5% a year ago. She’s taken 20 shots through 2 games, after averaging just 2.7 shots a game last year.

And the results have been superb. On a 0-100 scale, her shooting has rated an 85 and her assist rate a 72. If there’s a nit to pick, it’s that her ball-security rating is just 39. Always need something to work on.

Gerow-misses-a-shot watch was disappointed on Saturday. She took 6 shots and scored 6 goals. Last year, she was a very efficient player; her individual efficiency rating was 94 (out of 100). Obviously, she was even better in this one.

Rodriguez-Shaw will be another freshman to watch this year. She has quickly established herself as one of the top options for Duquesne. She’s shown she can score, but the question will be, can she adjust to the speed of the college game and become a true two-dimensional player. 6 goals so far, but she’s yet to record an assist.

Losing Andie Aldave means that the Irish are going to have players put into larger roles this year, and Madison Ahern is one of them. Her play share was 8.2% last year, and through 2 games, it’s already up to 12.5%. Her metrics have taken a small dip along with the increased attention, but not by much. The Michigan game was ugly for this offense, but against CMU, we saw what they can do when everything is working.