The 2013 Major League Lacrosse rookie class may arguably be the best rookie class of all time. The talents of Long Islands’ Rob Pannell, Denver’s Eric Law, and Ohio’s Logan Schuss join the names of Paul Rabil, Brendan Mundorf, Matt Danowski, Mike Leveille, and others with three of the best rookie performances of all time. Statistically speaking, the 2013 class ranks up there with the 2006 and 2008 rookie classes.
Rob Pannell would claim the title of 2013 MLL Rookie of the year. Deservingly so, Pannell put up staggering numbers during his rookie campaign in Long Island. Pannell would edge both Law and Schuss for the title.
There is a valid argument that any of these three players could have taken the title. Pannell won the votes of those who count. However, taking a deeper look into things, there is a strong argument that Logan Schuss of the Ohio Machine was more deserving of the title. With all due respect to Pannell, here are the reasons why Logan Schuss should have been the 2013 MLL Rookie of the Year.
Goals
Pannell put up a staggering 42 points during his rookie season with the Lizards. He recorded nearly double the amount of points than second place Tommy Palasek had for the Lizards. However, when it comes to goals scored, the most important of the offensive statistics, Schuss was the prime of the crop among 2013 rookies.
Logan Schuss scored 28 goals in just 11 games played for the Ohio Machine. Pannell had 25. Three goals seems like such a small margin, but when it comes to teams such as the Lizards and Machine, where goals were very few and far in between, three goals is actually a rather large amount. Schuss had eight more goals than Joe Cummings who ranked second in goals on the Ohio Machine as Pannell lead the Lizards by seven. That’s not all though. Schuss had twice as many goals as third ranked Kiel Matisz of the Machine.
Schuss now ranks second in rookie-season goals on the all-time MLL list to Kevin Huntley, who scored 30 in his 2008 rookie campaign. Pannell ranks fourth with his 25 goals.
Scoring Percentage
One of the most staggering statistics posted by Schuss is his scoring percentage. This is where the separation between the two really starts to become clear. Schuss posted a .318 scoring percentage as Pannell posted a .234. Schuss has nearly a .100 or 10% lead over Pannell.
Schuss put up his 28 goals on just 88 shots. Pannell posted his 25 goals on 107 shots. This boils down to Schuss scoring a goal on every three shots as Pannell scored a goal on every four shots.
Along with the scoring percentage comes the statistic of shots on goal. Shots on goal are shots that have a shot on resulting in a goal rather than a high or wide shot that would end up out of bounds. Out of his 88 shots, Schuss had 57 shots on goal which results in a 65 percentage of quality shots. Out of Pannell’s 107 shots, 55 of them were recorded as a shot on goal. This results in a 51 percentage of his shots being quality shots. With more quality shots, comes more goals and scoring opportunities.
Importance to One’s Team
There is no doubt that Pannell was one of, if not the most important part of the Lizard’s squad. However, looking at the Lizard’s season and their squad, they have one the league’s top goaltenders in Drew Adams and a rather strong defense. These key elements result in more possessions for the offense and lower scores by the opposing teams.
When it comes to the Ohio Machine, their goalkeeping situation is one of the worst in the entire league. Their defense is young and developing and opposing teams put up high numbers, putting more pressure on their offense and less possessions as well. As listed prior, Schuss makes more of these opportunities compared to that of Pannell.
