Goaltending Attitude

Lax Stats - Keys to victory - 2008

2008 NCAA Tournament Observations - As I do each season and did again this season, I analyze the statistics of the NCAA tournament games. Each year seems to show me more about the dynamics of the college game. This year I saw two things very interesting: Do you think the winning team or the losing team has more assisted goals? Do you think the winning team or the losing team has more saves? It's crazy but the losers have a higher percentage of assists and they have more saves. I guess that goes to show that the winning team's have more powerful offensive players and more of them. Interesting. And it says that the winning team's have better defenses giving up fewer shots on goal. Interesting.

2008 Pro Lax Stats - After looking at the college stats, I have begun compiling an analysis of the professional outdoor lacrosse game also. With the high levels of offensive talent, shot clock and limited roster (18 including goalies), I am not surprised to see that the defensive statistics dominance of the high level college winning teams is not the same in the pros. Defense is still vital but goalies (like in hockey) are even more crucial in the pros where the winning team has more saves than the losing team most of the time (while in college the opposite is true). Since the pro players are so good at getting shots off, the defensive key in the pros is to limit the quality of the shot (interfering with hands for a slower or less precise shot, for example) instead of stopping the player from shooting at all. When defenses do this the keeper has a better chance of making a save on a slower shot or one that is farther out - thus more saves, even though there are more goals because the offenses are good at every position and play.

At every level Shots on Goal (SOG) is a critical stat. The team with the fewest SOG allowed usually wins, but those defenses that make the shots on goal savable, they are the great defenses too.