Each week, we will look back at the games that were to see which players had the largest individual performances. I’ve gotten a surprising amount of feedback this week about a defense-flavor for these rankings, largely driven by John Sexton’s game against UVA. So I’m bowing to public pressure. Here’s our first attempt at a defense-driven top performances list.

For a bit of background, in order to rank single game performances, we needed a way to condense box score stats into 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. For the defensive version, I’ve calculated a defensive-game score, which is basically calculated by adding up the value from caused turnovers and subtracting the value from penalties. That gave me the top defense-only performances. (Note: I originally had ground balls as a part of this, but I removed it because attackmen were sneaking onto the list). I then ranked those players by their entirety of their contribution, including offensive stats. This was the main decision I had to make; should this list be the top defensive performances, or the top performances by a defensive player? I chose the latter. This means that the list may not purely be defensemen (case in point, our first #1 is a midfielder, Christian Mazzone). If an offensive player does enough defensive things (i.e. caused turnovers), they could qualify. And they would probably rank pretty high because offensive + defensive stats determine the ranking. But the goal here is to highlight defensemen who otherwise would never be able to make our weekly lists. This is a beta-version, so feedback is encouraged. Apologies for the somewhat garbled descriptions; the text engine was designed for offensive performances, so it doesn’t quite know what to do with a bunch of defensive stat lines. Like I said: beta.

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?

Top Single Game Scores of the week

#1 – Christian Mazzone (Rutgers) – 2.75 goals added Mar 14 vs Lehigh Opp ELO: 1639 If the defense doesn’t stop you, just keep shooting, right? He gladly obliged, racking up 2 goals in a game that Rutgers won 8 – 7 over Lehigh. Add in 2 ground balls and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. But perhaps the most impressive thing was accomplishing all of that while committing exactly zero turnovers. Throw in Lehigh’s ELO rating of 1639, and these stats take on whole new meaning. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 2 0 4 (2) GBs FO Won FO Pct 2 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 3

#2 – Shane Rinkus (Massachusetts) – 2.27 goals added Mar 14 vs Massachusetts-Lowell Opp ELO: 1412 I’m sure he’s very generous most days, but on this day, he tallied 1 goal without an assist against Massachusetts-Lowell in a game that Massachusetts won 13 – 6. In addition to the goals, he also came up with 4 ground balls. And zero turnovers! Coach has to love that. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 1 0 1 (1) GBs FO Won FO Pct 4 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 4

#3 – Bain Schroeder (Massachusetts-Lowell) – 2.17 goals added Mar 17 vs Binghamton Opp ELO: 1427 He racked up 1 goal against Binghamton, in a game that Massachusetts-Lowell won 14 – 10. He also threw in 5 ground balls for good measure. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 1 0 1 (1) GBs FO Won FO Pct 5 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 3

#4 – Davis Stoner (Saint Joseph’s) – 1.83 goals added Mar 13 vs Drexel Opp ELO: 1480 He racked up 1 goal against Drexel, in a game that Saint Joseph’s won 10 – 9. Add in 3 ground balls and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 1 0 1 (1) GBs FO Won FO Pct 3 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 3

#5 – John Sexton (Notre Dame) – 1.81 goals added Mar 17 vs Virginia Opp ELO: 1639 Against Virginia, in a game that Notre Dame won 9 – 7. Add in 8 ground balls and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. We should also mention that these video game stats were not racked up against just anyone. No, these stats came against the #3 strongest opponent of anyone on this list. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 1 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 8 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 3 0 5

#6 – Lukas Munoz (Bucknell) – 1.77 goals added Mar 17 vs Boston U Opp ELO: 1546 He did drive the offense, chipping in 1 assist against Boston U, in a game that Bucknell won 16 – 9. As if that wasn’t enough, don’t forget the 5 ground balls. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 1 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 5 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 4

#7 – Ryan Mcnulty (Loyola MD) – 1.47 goals added Mar 17 vs Navy Opp ELO: 1566 Against Navy in a game that Loyola MD won 15 – 9. As if that wasn’t enough, don’t forget the 4 ground balls and 1 faceoff win. Given the importance of possession, he’s probably most proud that he had as many turnovers in the game as you did. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 1 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 4 1 25% Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 3

#8 – Chris Adamo (Lafayette) – 1.46 goals added Mar 13 vs Cleveland State Opp ELO: 1373 Against Cleveland State in a game that Lafayette lost 12 – 6. As if that wasn’t enough, don’t forget the 6 ground balls. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 6 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 4

#9 – Garrett Pfeifer (Monmouth) – 1.46 goals added Mar 14 vs Hofstra Opp ELO: 1668 Against Hofstra in a game that Monmouth lost 7 – 6. As if that wasn’t enough, don’t forget the 4 ground balls. Given the importance of possession, he’s probably most proud that he had as many turnovers in the game as you did. We should also mention that these video game stats were not racked up against just anyone. No, these stats came against the #1 strongest opponent of anyone on this list. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 1 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 4 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 4

#10 – Hank Ontiveros (Wagner) – 1.44 goals added Mar 17 vs Hobart Opp ELO: 1461 In a game that Wagner lost 11 – 5 to Hobart. Add in 1 ground ball and 3 faceoff wins and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 1 3 21% Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 2

#11 – Will Puduski (Massachusetts-Lowell) – 1.43 goals added Mar 14 vs Massachusetts Opp ELO: 1376 Against Massachusetts, in a game that Massachusetts-Lowell lost 13 – 6. Add in 5 ground balls and 1 faceoff win and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. And zero turnovers! Coach has to love that. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 5 1 11% Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 3

#12 – Foster Huggins (Loyola MD) – 1.21 goals added Mar 17 vs Navy Opp ELO: 1566 Against Navy, in a game that Loyola MD won 15 – 9. He also threw in 3 ground balls for good measure. But perhaps the most impressive thing was accomplishing all of that while committing exactly zero turnovers. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 3 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 5

#13 – Christopher Keating (Yale) – 1.10 goals added Mar 17 vs Cornell Opp ELO: 1588 Against Cornell in a game that Yale won 13 – 11. Add in 4 ground balls and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. But perhaps the most impressive thing was accomplishing all of that while committing exactly zero turnovers. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 4 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 3

#14 – Scott Hooper (Virginia) – 1.04 goals added Mar 17 vs Notre Dame Opp ELO: 1654 Against Notre Dame, in a game that Virginia lost 9 – 7. He also threw in 2 ground balls for good measure. But perhaps the most impressive thing was accomplishing all of that while committing exactly zero turnovers. Throw in Notre Dame’s ELO rating of 1654, and these stats take on whole new meaning. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 2 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 0 0 5

#15 – Andrew Park (Wagner) – 0.96 goals added Mar 17 vs Hobart Opp ELO: 1461 Against Hobart in a game that Wagner lost 11 – 5. Add in 4 ground balls and you’ve got a pretty full stat sheet. No trillion-club here. Goals Assists Shots (OG) 0 0 0 (0) GBs FO Won FO Pct 4 0 N/A Turnovers Penalties Caused TO 1 0 3