Visionist Data Scientist Adam Sonty participated in an analytics challenge during the virtual 2020 Sounders FC Soccer Analytics Conference last month.
The Seattle Sounders challenged analytics enthusiasts to use data visualization to tell a story and deliver insights that help decision-making processes of key stakeholders at the club. Adam showed how defensive positioning can impact goal-scoring opportunity, using player-tracking data of attacking sequences by Liverpool FC to create a statistic called “goal control” that quantifies the amount of the goal that a player controls. His solution visualizes how defensive players obstruct attackers’ view of the goal. Statistics like goal control can lead to more meaningful metrics to describe the quality of a shot.
Adam finished in the top 4 of the competition – congratulations Adam!