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Scoring was up this past spring in all three NCAA men's divisions, with the biggest jump in Division II, and average goals per game rose for the fourth straight year in two of the three women's divisions. Although the scoring in 2009 remained well below the averages at the beginning of the decade, in men's Divisions I, II, and III it was the highest in the last six, three, and seven years, respectively. The average was the highest ever (for the period of the analysis) for women's Divisions I and III, and the level in Division II was the second highest ever and still above those for the other two divisions. For this analysis, we used scores for men's and women's Divisions I, II, and III for the last two seasons, added those to an existing data set for 2000-2007, and examined both scoring (average total goals per game) and high score differentials. Only games within each division were included. The two graphs below show the scoring trends by division for men's and women's teams over the last 10 years. For all three men's divisions, average goals per game more often decreased. This year is the first during this period when all three divisions showed an increase. Scoring in Division II continues to be higher than it is Division III, with Division I having the fewest average total goals per game. The situation in women's lacrosse presents a sharp contrast. As the second graph below shows, average goals per game in all three divisions are higher than they are in men's lacrosse. In addition, for most of the period analyzed, the scoring trends have generally been upward. As on the men's side, scoring in Division II is higher than Division III, which is in turn higher than Division I. Note: Click any of the graphs to view a larger (904 x 616) version.  
What has happened with score differentials over this period? Large margins of victory were examined for each division. The graphs below show the percentage of games each year with differentials of 20+ and 15+ goals. High goal differentials are quite uncommon in men's Division I. In Division II, 8.9% of games had a 15+ margin and 2.3% a 20+ margin. The corresponding figures for Division III were 12.1% and 3.7%. The greatest change over the 10-year period is clearly in Division II, which has had a markedly lower percentage of high-differential games in the past three years. On the women's side, the percentage of games with high goal margins is substantially greater. In Division II, the percentage of 15+ goal games reached 27.2% this year, and the percentage of 20+ goal games jumped to 9.8%. In men's Division I, the average differential (not depicted in the graphs) has remained relatively stable at 4.8 to 5.1 goals per game over the last five years. For Division II, the average was 8.6 goals per game in 2005, 6.3 in 2007, and 7.1 this past spring. The average differential in Division III has been in the 6.8 to 7.1 goal range. For women's Division I, the average differential has risen modestly from 6.1 to 6.6 goals per game over the last five years. The increases in Divisions II and III have been from 9.1 to 10.1 goals per game and from 7.8 to 8.3 goals per game, respectively. On a side note, for those interested in home field advantage, the average goals per game in favor of the home team for 2009 for this data set were 1.63, 2.03, and 1.95 in men's Divisions I, II, and III, respectively. The corresponding figures for the women's divisions were 1.41, 1.73, and 1.77.  
 
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