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?
Click on any player’s name or the PRO logo () and you’ll head straight to the detailed breakdown on their LacrosseReference PRO page. As opposed to last year, all players appearing in the weekly rundown are unlocked and the information on their page is available to all readers.
Are you getting tired of seeing Abby Hormes at the top of this list every week? You’d be forgiven if that were the case. You can take heart that someone (Mercer) did manage to slow her down a small amount in the Panther subsequent game.
Not all that much left to say about her 2022 season at this point. 94th percentile in overall player efficiency. She’s always going to have those what-ifs about the competition that High Point has faced, but that’s not the point of this column.
Love a double-dip. Watson earned her second place on this week’s list with her 7-point/13 DC performance in the battle for Connecticut against Yale.
The three assists that she had in this game are indicative of the growth in that aspect of her game. This is her assist/gm mark for the past 3 seasons:
NCR with another big game as YSU puts up their 4th best offensive efficiency (43.8%) of the year against Kent State.
KSU is not a good defense, but it’s interesting to compare this output against their previous game against this same opponent (March 17th). In the other matchup, the offensive efficiency was 37.5%. The big difference was turnovers as their turnover rate was just 17% in this one, compared to 31% in the previous victory.
#4 – Siena Gore (Kennesaw State) – 7.92 goals added
Apr 23 vs Coastal Carolina Opp ELO: 1434
34% offensive efficiency and the W against the Chanticleers, who have the 55th best oppoent-adjusted defense in the nation. This was a game where the Owls +9 possession advantage came in handy.
For Gore, she showed her versatility in this one, adding 15 draw controls to her 5 points. As a testament to the uber-productive season she’s had, this was just her sixth highest EGA game of the year.
Mercer, led by Rhatigan’s 90th percentile efficiency season, has made one of the largest offensive leaps of any team in Division I Women’s lacrosse this year. Only five teams have increase their offensive efficiency relative to the 2021 season more than the Bears:
McHenry has been the driving force behind the Flashes’ offense all season. In this game, it was 6 points, which together with her other contributions, added up to a 7.48 EGA day.
I say that she’s been the driving force because she’s taken 22% of the team’s shots and has generated a whopping 27% of their assists.
A third Husky! UConn was all over the advanced stats landscape with their two victories this past week. But LaPrise’s game against Yale deserves special mention because it was a career-high play share day.
Play shares is a concept that’s akin to a usage-rate in basketball. It measures how big of a role each player had within the offense. And against Yale, she was a bigger part of the offense than at any other point in her UConn career.
There are 3 players in Division I Women’s lacrosse who are in the 90th percentile (or higher) for shooting, and 75th percentile for assist rate and the 77th percentile or higher for turnover rate. One of them is Ellie Masera. The others are Hailey CARROLL and Meaghan Tyrrell.
That’s good company for the super Seawolves sophomore.
Seems like a weekly occurrence at this point. Creo tears up some unsuspecting defense for a big stat line. In this one, it was to the tune of 8 points against Colgate. This was her fourth most efficient game of the season and her third-highest play share.
The interesting thing about her season is that, on the surface, she’s no more productive than she was last year (EGA/gm is 4.69 this year vs 4.65 last year). But she’s doing it with a much lower usage-rate, which means other players are shouldering more of the burden. So she’s doing more with less touches, which is the literal definition of efficiency.
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) and you’ll head straight to the detailed breakdown on their LacrosseReference PRO page. As opposed to last year, all players appearing in the weekly rundown are unlocked and the information on their page is available to all readers.
