Lacrosse Ground Ball Stats: What to Track and Why

Lacrosse ground ball stats tell you which team is winning the loose balls, and loose balls turn into possessions and shots. The most useful version is your share of the ground balls in a game, which says more than your raw total. Track them by player every game, keep a count for the other team, and you'll know whether a loss came down to shooting or to never having the ball.

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What counts as a ground ball?

A ground ball is credited to the player who picks up a loose ball and gains possession during live play. The ball can come loose off a missed shot, a dropped pass, a check that knocks it free, or a faceoff or draw that ends up on the turf. It doesn't matter who had it a second earlier, because the stat goes to whoever controls it now.

Every position can pick up ground balls, and they reward technique and effort more than most stats do. Low hands, feet that keep moving through the ball, and a body between the opponent and your stick win most of the contested ones.

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Why your ground ball rate matters more than your total

Your share of the ground balls in a game says more than your count does. A team that plays fast and shoots a lot creates more loose balls for both sides, so its total can climb even while it loses the battle.

Zack Capozzi of Lacrosse Reference made this point about the 2021 Virginia men's team in USA Lacrosse Magazine. Virginia led Division I with 41.9 ground balls per game, but it ranked 14th nationally in the percentage of ground balls it won (52.3%). His summary was "Rate stats are greater than counting stats."

The math for your own team takes a minute. Divide your ground balls by the total both teams picked up. If you're consistently above 50%, you're winning more possessions off loose balls than you're giving away.

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How do you track ground balls during a game?

Give one person the job of logging every ground ball to a player as it happens. Totals estimated from memory after the final whistle miss most of them, especially the scrums with three sticks in the pile.

In SquadProfile, a ground ball is logged like any other stat: pick the player, then the stat. Each one is saved with the period it happened in, so every game's box score shows ground balls (GB) by player and your season totals build on their own. During the game, the period filter on the Analytics tab lets you check your team's ground balls for a single quarter, which is a quick halftime read. You can see the full list of tracked stats for boys' lacrosse and girls' lacrosse.

For the other team, a running tally on the bench is enough. You need their total to figure your rate, and you don't need to know which of their players picked each one up.

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Which players should lead your team in ground balls?

Defenders usually lead a team in ground balls, along with long-stick midfielders in the boys' game, because they're closest to the loose balls that come off caused turnovers and saves. If your top ground ball player is a defender, that's normal.

The more useful read is who's missing from the top of the list. Midfielders with steady numbers are competing in the ride and in transition. Attackers with ground balls are crashing the crease after missed shots and keeping possessions alive, and an attacker with almost none is probably watching the ball after the shot instead of chasing it.

Faceoff and draw specialists need a separate look. If your stat keeper credits a ground ball when a faceoff or draw win comes off the ground, that player's total will run high for reasons that have little to do with the rest of their game, so compare their numbers outside of those restarts before you draw conclusions.

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Ground balls and caused turnovers

Ground balls tell you the most when you read them next to caused turnovers (CT). A caused turnover knocks the ball loose, and the ground ball is what turns it into a possession.

If your team posts high caused turnover numbers but loses the ground ball battle, your defense is doing the hard part and handing the ball right back. When both numbers are high, your defense is creating transition chances and your offense should be ready to push. If your ground ball rate is fine and you're still losing close games, the problem is more likely on the offensive end, and reading your team's shooting chart is the next place to look.

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What to fix at practice

A low ground ball rate is usually a technique problem that shows up under pressure. Run ground ball drills live and with contact, because uncontested scoops in a line don't carry over to a scrum with two opponents closing.

If one or two players account for most of your team's ground balls, build ground ball reps into every position group's individual time, attack included. And if your rate drops off late in games, check conditioning before technique, since the first step to a loose ball is the first thing to go when legs are tired.

After your next game, open the box score, add up both teams' ground balls, and figure your rate. Do it for a few games in a row and compare it to your results.

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"Ground balls mean possession and possessions mean another opportunity for us to score." Alice Mercer, Team USA defender, in USA Lacrosse Magazine