Pick'Em Right: The Lacrosse Scoring System
How the scoring system can impact your Pick'Em strategy
Fans can play for free and compete with friends and fans of the league by picking the four lacrosse players each week who earn the most points in the 2023 Lacrosse season. Each week, fans will select the athletes they think will climb to the top of the leaderboard on a weekly basis.
In order to do so, it’s important to understand the scoring system to make the best picks for your roster.
Here are things to keep in mind that can impact your chance to win the fantasy weekly and season leaderboard.
NEW IN 2023
When making your picks this season, remember that there were four changes made to the scoring system ahead of the upcoming season:
- Saves: Reduced from +6 points to +5 points
- Goals Against: Increased from -1 points to -2 points
- Turnovers: Increased from -8 points to -10 points
- Caused Turnovers: Increased from +12 points to +14 points
Following a season in which goalies dominated the top of the leaderboard, the changes to Saves and Goals Against will impact those that play the most. Last season, the top four goalies who each posted 48 or more periods finished in the Top 10, and dominated the top four in stat points.
Take 2022 Champion Taylor Moreno, for example. She earned 786 stat points for saves made. Under the new values, Moreno would have earned 655 stat points. She also would have lost 204 points, compared to -102 for goals against.
Pro Tip: There has been only one week in the history of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse in which two goalkeepers were in the Top 4 on the weekly leaderboard.
A goalkeeper is still a great add for any roster as they have lots of opportunities to earn points, but making sure to pair a great goalkeeper with offensive and defensive powerhouses gives you the best chance of climbing the leaderboard each week.
WINNER, WINNER
In every Athletes Unlimited season, win points make up a large portion of the overall points a player earns. In 2022, Sam Apuzzo tallied 1,782 points – 63% of which were win points.
When identifying the players who will top the weekly leaderboard, it’s important to look at each team’s roster as a whole before selecting. More often than not, players from the winningest team will take the top four spots in the first two weeks, with the top earning team taking a spot or two in the second half of the season.
Once you identify the team that has the best chance of winning the most games, fill your four spots with a variety of positions to capitalize on all of the available point categories in Lacrosse.
The largest earning plays are:
- Goal: +12 points
- Caused Turnover: +14 points
- Two-point Goal: +16 points
- Save: +5 points*
Consider this: The frequency at which saves are made is often higher than the frequency of goals being scored. Despite the lower point value, saves present more opportunities to earn them.
PICK’EM, WIN’EM
When playing AU Fantasy, you have the opportunity to win three ways:
- Season Leaderboard: accumulate the most points for the season and tiebreaker
- Week/Series Leaderboard: accumulate the most points for the week AND win the tiebreaker (leaderboard points)
- Pick’Em Prediction: predict the top 4 players
Register to play for free now at auprosports.com/fantasy. Season 3 of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse begins on July 20.
