CLEAR! The ride is on. We’re talking about the All-Film Team, Ryder’s favorite film tapes, watching Mikey Diggs watching film – basically, a lot of film. Let’s go!

1. All-Film Team

The second annual edition of the All-Film Team is live – comprised of 5,000+ words, 28 film clips, and quotes from hours of conversations with coaches.

The more you watch these players, the more you appreciate their games. This team is loaded with seals, screens, pick assists, assisted groundballs, two slides, three slides, and deceptive, natural-side dodging. Check out the full team here.

2. Ryder’s favorite highlight tapes

Two-time All-Film Team attackman Ryder Garnsey gave US Lacrosse Magazine his top five highlight tapes of all-time.

At the top? 2006 Syracuse grad Mikey Powell.

Powell tops everyone’s list – but Ryder has a unique tie to 22, according to someone who knows them both well.

“Watching Ryder watch the game of lacrosse, and watching Mikey, the attention that they give … and the smile on their face – and it sounds phony – but he loves watching lacrosse and seeing different things happening,” Nat St. Laurent – Ryder’s coach with the Redwoods and Mikey’s former teammate at Carthage, N.Y. – told me.

“He’s attracted to that. And because of that, he’s trying to emulate and do different things.”

Read the rest of Ryder’s favorites – including his teammate Matt Kavanagh, whose film he was caught watching in calculus class during the first week of his freshman year. 

3. Diggs’ watching highlights

Speaking of watching film, you can watch Mikey Diggs watch film in the latest Weekly Watch. The Reaction Cam is must-see content.

4. Stat of the Week: Run outs

We’re tracking run outs – a.k.a. races won to the endline or sideline where and when a shot went out of bounds.

Most of the league leaders are goalies. Archers LC defender Matt McMahon and Whipsnakes LC defender (and 2020 DPOY) Matt Dunn both finished in the top five.

I’m a huge advocate for hustle stats. But the teamwide run out rates are most interesting to me. The Whipsnakes defense ran out 18.4% of opponent misses – well above the league average (13.2%).

On the other hand, the Chaos offense ran out a league-low 75.7% of their own misses. That’s partially by design. It’s the price Chaos pays for a free-flowing offense that often has six players above goal-line extended. The same spacing that leads to beautiful offense – and more traffic in the goalie’s face – can sometimes cost them a step in the race to retain possession. You could perform a cost-benefit analysis on any strategy like that.

5. Crease Collapse of the Week

A throwback by All-Film Team defenseman Bryce Young.

Whipsnakes LC defensive coordinator Mike Murphy calls Young the hammer of their defense. When he slides, he collides.