Academy end of the season top statistics.

[Jeanious]

We've reached the end of the season and that means one more article about the statistics.

Goalkeeper impact
The final goalkeeper impact rankings crown Moew enBach as the most influential goalkeeper of the season, I've set the minimum appearances to 10 to make it 'fair' so you won't see every goalkeeper here that joined the league later. While the rest of the keepers spent the season doing their best which might not have always been enough, Moew posted a remarkable 4.91 impact rating finishing miles ahead of every other eligible keeper. According to the model this was the one goalkeeper consistently turning situations in his team's favour and proving to be an issue for any striker.

Behind him the battle for the remaining places feels less like keepers going for second or third and more like a support group. Albert Flowers claims second place despite finishing with a negative rating, ahead of Eric Duic and Umaq Yupanqui. That's not meant as an insult to them, it's just the reality of a season where Moew appears to have had more luck, or maybe it wasn't luck. When the gap between first and second is larger than the gap between second and fourth you know you've got a runaway winner.


Interceptions
Interceptions are about reading the game before everyone else has figured out what's happening, Alex Peña spent the season playing three moves ahead of the rest of the academy. His 43 interceptions comfortably lead the rankings with Walter Blanco following on 37 and Geronimo Datbasted rounding out the top three on 32. Every pass near these players apparently became non refundable and they claimed the ball as theirs.

The rest of the leaderboard is packed with the usual defensive troublemakers. Don Banjo, Joshua Homme III Esquire Limited, Jimothy Erickson, Christopher Bergmann, and Scorp E. Unshark all make a appearance forming a group of players who seem offended whenever the opponent attempts a pass in their vicinity. Special shout out to Joshua Homme III Esquire Limited, whose full name is somehow longer than some attacking plays we've seen this season.


Key tackles
A key tackle stops an attack and makes the oponnents player wonder why they even bothered following by an apology. Martin Krpan finishes top of the academy with 9 key tackles, putting a clear gap between himself and the rest of the field. Ewan Purves and Jimothy Erickson share second on 7, giving us a top three that looks exactly like the sort of defenders you wouldn't want charging toward you with the ball at your feet.

After that the leaderboard becomes a traffic jam of players stuck on 3 key tackles. Roberto Chávez, Walter Blanco, Jay Pea, Geronimo Datbasted, Peter Castellani, Che Youz, and Scorp E. Unshark all squeeze into the top ten with identical statistics. The standout here is obviously Krpan whose lead is so large that he almost has as many key tackles as second and third place combined. When the season needed a last second defensive intervention chances are Krpan was already sliding that way.


Successful passes
Football is won by goals but it all starts with passing. Jimothy Erickson finishes the season as the academy's passing king with an enormous 819 successful passes, the only player to break the 800 mark and hereby officialy labeled as passing stat padder. Martin Krpan follows with 708 while Reece Munro claims third on 689. That's a lot of completed passes.

The rest of the top ten consists of other players that love playing hot potatoe. STAR SCREAM, Peter Castellani, Che Youz, Baptiste Azzola, and Van Hieu Tang all comfortably clear 600 successful passes while Ewan Purves and S Sei round out the list.


Key passes
Creating a chance here and there is one thing but consistently finding the pass that creates the chance is a completely different skill and Owen Bryant was the academy's best at it this season. His 55 key passes put him comfortably ahead of everyone else with Sadie Black finishing second on 47. Walter Blanco and Roberto Chávez share third with 46.

The rest of the leaderboard is packed with players who enjoy making life easier for their team. Alex Peña cracks the top five with 43 key passes while Gold Ship, John Warhurst, Che Youz, Jack Pow, and Christopher Bergmann complete the top ten. I also want to mention that Gold Ship sounds like the name of your favorite racing horse at the track. These were the players responsible for turning possession into danger throughout the season.


Predicted assists
When the created chance turns into a goal we get to the assists, in this case how many assists my model predicted. Alex Peña ends the season in a category of his own with 14 predicted assists, separating himself from anyone else and confirming why his name keeps showing up in the final third. The gap to second place is so large that Peña's neck can't even look down far enough to see them. Bruce McAllister and Luis Fonseca both finishing on 8 forming a shared group that were never able to catch Peña.

Below them the numbers compress into a dense group of creators. Roberto Chávez sits fourth on 7, while Arsene Cardinet, Joe Mormor, Nick Kasak, Tim Quackareedoo, Walter Blanco, and Gold Ship all finish on 6 predicted assists. It looks like a collective of players permanently hovering one pass away from a highlight reel. Peña operated on a different level entirely this season, producing enough expected end product that the rest of his team could simply relax and wait.


Assists
I am happy to announce that my prediction model came out with decently accurate predictions. Alex Peña finishes the season on 14 assists and sits on 14 predicted assists as well. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Behind him the prediction became less accurate. Roberto Chávez and Tim Quackareedoo both land on 7 assists, forming a shared second place that never quite turned into a challenge for the top spot. Then there’s a tight group of creators on 6 assists with Bruce McAllister, Walter Blanco, Joshua Homme III Esquire Limited, Joe Mormor, and Gold Ship. All stacked so closely that one extra final ball would’ve completely reshuffled the order. Geronimo Datbasted and Jake Ronaldo round out the top ten on 5, just close enough to feel involved but not quite close enough to join the conversation.

With 14 assists Alex Peña set a new SSL academy assist record.


Predicted goals
Predicting goals is the same as predicting the weather, it seems logical but in the end it's usually not. A massive 24 predicted goals and new academy record for Nacho Kusora puts him clear at the top of the table, creating a gap with no competition. Behind him sit Isaiah Ali on 17 and the closest challenger. Ali didn't play the full season so who knows what he might have been able to do.

The rest of the top ten tightens into a more familiar group of attackers and opportunists. Joe Mormor, Saba Kvekvetsia, and Dennis van Huntelrooy all sit on 12 predicted goals forming a shared third place group. Mullet Man follows on 10 with Leonardo Stone, Don BebeZ, John McDougal, and Jake Ronaldo rounding out the list. It’s a top ten that splits cleanly into one runaway winner, one that had potentially challenged for first and then a group of players steadily doing their job.


Goals
Another solid prediction, at least for the number one spot, it practically wrote it down in permanent marker already: Nacho Kusora finishes with 24 goals, exactly matching his predicted total. Kusora dominated the scoring charts from start to finish, leaving everyone else to challenge for second.

Behind him the gap between expectation and reality starts to get shaky. Dennis van Huntelrooy finishes on 13 goals, slightly above his predicted 12 edging himself into a clear second place in the actual rankings. Joe Mormor holds steady on 12 while Jake Ronaldo drops into 8 despite projecting higher earlier in the season. The rest of the top ten becomes a rotation of late season contributors. Kairo Vox, Ozzy Boudreaux, Barry McGlynn, Che Youz, Mullet Man, and Bruce McAllister. A group that collectively turned small bursts of form into enough goals to sneak into the conversation without ever threatening the top three.

With 24 goals Nacho Kusora set a new SSL academy goal record.


Average rating
Across the long stretch of the season consistency is what separates the steady performers from the group of players that have games where they do not appear and Nacho Kusora once again sits at the summit with an impressive 8.21 average rating. It’s a fitting reflection of a season where he didn’t just score goals, he usually was the best player on the field based on his rating. Joe Mormor follows on 7.80, with Alex Peña close behind on 7.75 forming a top three that feels like a mix of finishing, creativity, and general control of matches.

Behind them the ratings compress into a tightly packed group where small differences represent a full season of marginal gains. Dennis van Huntelrooy, Bruce McAllister, and Ewan Purves all sit comfortably in the mid 7s, while Che Youz, Jake Ronaldo, Nick Kasak, and Barry McGlynn complete the top ten. The interesting part here is not separation but clustering outside the top three, the season’s best performers are separated by margins so small that a single good or bad match probably decided half the order.


Player of the Season
If you take a look at the entire seasons datasets, Alex Peña isn’t just strong in isolated categories but he repeatedly shows up as the number one reference point in multiple passing and defensive metrics across the academy outputs. In earlier statistical breakdowns, he consistently appears at or near the top of the most important possession and distribution indicators, including successful passing influence, progression related output, and chance creation involvement. That matters because it places him at the centre of how the team actually functions, not just how it finishes attacks. Alex Peña had a massive influence on the entire game, every game.

The pattern is remarkably consistent: when passing volume, passing quality, and forward distribution metrics are listed Peña is either leading outright or sitting in the very top group. Combined with his end product including a perfectly aligned 14 assists vs 14 predicted assists it forms a profile of a player whose output is not sporadic but structural. He isn’t just contributing to attacking sequences he is repeatedly the starting point of them.

What separates him from other standout performers is the reach of influence. Some players dominate scoring, others dominate defensive actions, others lead in isolated creative metrics. Peña spans multiple layers of the game simultaneously: high level passing control, elite creative delivery, strong defensive interception numbers, and top tier assist production. When all of those statistics are combined. The academy played football through him more often than through anyone else and therefor deserves the player of the season

THIS IS MY OPINION

[Bloodless]

Wait, you do realize I had 10 goals right?

[Jack_Pow]

Wait, you do realize I had 10 goals right?

@Jeanious never forgave you for going on a mad one against us in MD5.

[Jeanious]

This is what the index said, I cannot be held accountable.

[Bloodless]

Wait, you do realize I had 10 goals right?

@Jeanious never forgave you for going on a mad one against us in MD5.

Man still has nightmares about that chip shot lmao