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You spent the better part of four months meticulously dissecting the 2013 college lacrosse season. You shouldn't stop now because cold turkey is a bad way to go through life, man. College Crosse is providing decompression snapshots of all 63 teams and their 2013 campaigns, mostly because everything needs a proper burial.
I. VITAL SIGNS
Team: Colgate Raiders
2013 Record: 8-7 (3-3, Patriot)
2013 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): -0.10 (29)
2012 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): 2.14 (9)
Winning Percentage Change from 2012: -24.44%
2013 Efficiency Margin: -2.29 (34)
Efficiency Margin Change from 2012: -11.24
II. "ATTA BOY!" FACT
- In a year of transitioning from the highest reaches of Division I lacrosse, Colgate managed to pull together eight wins, a decent effort considering that the team's performance over its 15 games in 2013 projected only about six-and-a-half victories for the program. That overachievement is notable (even if the Raiders failed to beat a team with at least a .500 record), but there's something else about Colgate's effort last season that sticks out and deserves a free petting zoo trip (with balloons, duh): The Raiders saw the leveraged emergence of a handful of offensive weapons to complement first team All-Destruction member, Peter Baum. Now, the Raiders were a step behind where they were in 2012 on the offensive end (these things happen), but the contributors that surrounded Baum in 2013 -- The Dump Truck (Ryan Walsh), Brendon McCann, Jimmy Ryan, Matt Clarkson, etc. -- bode well for an offense that is going to need to deal with the graduation of Baum (the Raiders' centerpiece and primary cog) in 2014. The fact that these players were able to step forward and did so fairly well helped create a bridge for Colgate into the coming season, something many programs fail to achieve when they lose exceptional talent that serves a power plant function over a period of years. When you look at this quartet (and even further), you can see the adoption of additional responsibility and the platform it creates for the Raiders, soon to enter an era without the services of one of the most dynamic offensive players to pull on the maroon and white. This isn't scavenging for a positive in a season that otherwise didn't have the volition that many thought it would at the sunrise of the Raiders' campaign; this is potential evidence of a leveraged offensive model that could work out well for Colgate down the line, which isn't a bad thing if it comes to fruition. In essence, the Raiders didn't receive a Tewaaraton-worthy season from Peter Baum and still managed to finish among the meaty middle of the nation; that's a "problem" that many programs would like to have.
III. "YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU QUALIFY FOR THE AARP!" FACT
- Well, there's Colgate's drop off from 2012 to 2013:
COLGATE'S REGRESSION: 2012-2013 METRIC 2013 2012 Pythagorean Win Expectation 44.14% (34) 70.56% (7) Adjusted Offensive Efficiency 29.06 (38) 36.41 (4) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency 31.35 (33) 27.47 (17) Adjusted Efficiency Margin -2.29 (34) 8.95 (7)
IV. MR. FIX-IT HAS A ONE-FIX ENGAGEMENT, AND IT'S . . .
- Step 1: Get consistent goalkeeping. Step 2: ???? Step 3: Profit.