Comparison of in-game external load metrics among positions and between halves for division I collegiate women’s lacrosse athletes.

External load has become a common metric for
coaches to track the activity profiles of athletes during
training and competition. The advent of wearable
technology has made external load monitoring
accessible for more coaches. The purpose of this
study was to compare positional (attack, midfield,
and defense) and game (first half to second) external
loads. An NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse team
was recruited to wear triaxal accelerometers and
GPS units during five non-conference games during
the 2020 regular season. The external load metrics
evaluated for this study included total distance,
sprint distance (> 19 km∙hr-1), number of power
plays (> 3 m·s-2), top speed, and PlayerLoad.
Significance was set at p < 0.05. No significant
differences among positions were observed for full
game measures (p > 0.05). A significant main effect
for time was observed for sprint distance (midfield; p
< 0.001 ) and power plays (midfield; p < 0.001 and
defense; p = 0.004). While no significant differences
occurred for activity profiles among positions, high-intensity efforts (sprint distance and power plays)
were significantly less in the second half, likely due
to fatigue. Coaches and sports scientists can use
this information to manage in-game fatigue through
tactics such as strategic substitutions and time-outs,
thus preserving the intensity of the activity profiles
late in the game.