I’ve read the social media discourse about draw dominance (and listened to Megan Carney and Meaghan Tyrrell speak about this on their podcast) over the past few days. Some seem to believe there’s an over-valuing of a team’s draw dominance in a given game. There are other factors that come into play — like turnovers, ground balls, shots that get saved, etc. — that can easily tilt the field back to neutral or even entirely in the other direction.
And who am I to argue? I didn’t play lacrosse growing up (though I’ve invested the last eight-plus years of my life into covering the sport), so it’s difficult to argue with the opinions of players like Meg and Meg who’ve been at the peak of the sport.
All this said, draw dominance is largely what led Syracuse to a win over Virginia on Saturday. Kate Mashewske controlled 18 of them. Ellie Masera has been a one-woman draw wrecking crew, as has Elon freshman MJ Santa Barbara (more on her later). So, while one team’s draw dominance doesn’t always tell the full story, it’s likely that a singular individual’s dominance can tip the scales. Just my opinion.
Beth Ann Mayer wrote last week about Michigan’s rise. It felt like it was coming for years, at least to the people in Ann Arbor going through the grind every day. Externally, there were flashes of potential. It seems like a few more teams are in the early stages of knocking on the door.
It also seems like they all reside in the Ivy League — Brown, Harvard, Yale and even Penn, which has been a contender before but is just now starting to get back to the top.
If you didn’t get enough of a weekend fix, there’s a rare Monday doubleheader for you. Don’t forget to tune into North Carolina hosting Northwestern at 4:30 p.m. and Stetson hosting Brown at 6 p.m.
FUN WITH NUMBERS
.650 • Draw percentage entering the weekend for Elon, which ranked fourth nationally. Elon ranked 92nd in draw percentage last year (.451), but Santa Barbara has completely transformed the unit. She’s won 100 draws through 11 games.
6 • Goals by Kristin O’Neill, including the overtime winner, in the aforementioned 14-13 Penn State win over Northwestern. It was Penn State’s first win over a No. 1 team since 2005 and its first win over Northwester since May 4, 2018.
8 • Assists for Alex Finn in a 21-3 win over Campbell. Finn, Stony Brook’s quarterback, didn’t attempt a shot. She was perfectly content with setting up her teammates.
12 • Goals combined (three apiece) for Ashley Kiernan, Taylor Everson, Jenna Collignon and Taylor Lane in Yale’s 15-5 win over a Dartmouth team that appeared to be surging after upsetting USC.
14 • Assists by Hofstra in Sunday’s win over Elon, which is a CAA program record (since 2002). North Carolina transfer Melissa Sconone paced the Pride with seven assists, are also a single-game program CAA record (since 2002).
18 • Harvard’s top scoring offense was held to eight goals on 18 shots against a stout Penn defense on Sunday in an 18-8 Quakers win. Callie Hem, the nation’s leader in goals per game, had one goal on three shots.
