Scoring & stats

Water polo stats explained: G, A, Sv, TO, FB, Excl & the modifiers that matter

If you've stared at a water polo box score wondering what FBU, EE, or Inside-2m means — or whether 3 exclusions is the same as 3 kickouts — this is the reference. Written for coaches, scorers, and parents who want to actually read what their kid did in the game.

By Eggbeater Water Polo · May 7, 2026 · 12 min read

What we'll cover

  1. Scoring stats — Goals (G), Assists (A), 5m, Shootout
  2. Offensive stats — Shot Attempts, Sprint Wins
  3. Defensive stats — Steals (Stl), Field Blocks (FB), GK Saves (Sv)
  4. Possession losses — Turnovers (TO)
  5. Exclusions — kickout vs common penalty vs earned exclusion (and the 3-strike rule)
  6. Situational modifiers — 6-on-5, Counter, FBU, Inside-2m
  7. How to read a real box score

1. Scoring stats — what counts toward the actual score

Three event types add to the score on the public page: regular goals, 5-meter penalty goals, and shootout goals. Box scores break them out so you can see which kind of attacker the player is.

G Goal

A regular goal scored from open play. The most important number on the page.

A Assist

The pass that directly led to the goal. Tap right after the scorer is selected — the assist credit goes to whoever made the final pass before the shot.

5m 5-meter penalty goal

A penalty taken at the 5-meter line and converted. Misses from the 5m line are recorded as Attempts, not as a separate "5m miss" column on most box scores.

SOG Shootout goal

If the game ends tied and the rules call for a shootout, each scoring attempt is logged as SOG (made) or SOM (missed). Different from regular goals because they don't add a full point to the score line — they're a sequence of 1-on-1 attempts to break the tie.

2. Offensive stats — what tells you how busy a player was

SA Shot Attempts

A shot was taken, no goal. Coaches care about this for shot selection: a high-attempt, low-goal player may be forcing shots or getting good looks but missing. Includes failed 5m attempts.

SW Sprint Wins

The opening sprint of each period — won by getting to the ball first at center. Tracked because sprint specialists are valuable: they set up the first possession of each quarter.

3. Defensive stats — what tells you who's doing the dirty work

Stl Steal

The defender took possession away from the opponent — by intercepting a pass, ripping the ball out of a hold, or forcing a bad release. Distinct from a turnover (which is when possession is lost without an explicit defender taking it).

FB Field Block

A field defender (not the goalkeeper) blocked a shot before it reached the cage. Underrated stat — a high field-block count means a defense that's actually putting bodies in the lane.

Sv GK Save

The goalkeeper stopped a shot on goal. This is the most lopsided stat in water polo — top goalies routinely post 15+ saves in a single game, while the best field-player blocks of the day usually stay in single digits.

4. Possession losses — Turnovers

TO Turnover

The team lost possession without the opponent having to take it — bad pass into the bleachers, offensive foul, shot-clock expiry. Often attributed to a specific player, but sometimes recorded as a "team turnover" with no individual blame.

5. Exclusions — the rule that confuses everybody

This is where most parents and even some coaches get tripped up, because "exclusion" is an umbrella that covers several different things and only one of them disqualifies the player from the rest of the game.

Excl Exclusion

A player committed a foul severe enough to be sent off the field for 20 seconds (or until possession changes / a goal is scored). The opposing team plays 6-on-5 during that window — major scoring opportunity.

Inside the "Excl" category, two sub-types matter:

  • 🚩 Kickout — the standard, severe-enough exclusion. Counts toward the 3-strike rule.
  • Common penalty — a lighter exclusion. Does NOT count toward the 3-strike disqualification.

3 KO 3-strike rule (BENCHED)

Per FINA, a player who accumulates 3 personal kickouts in a single game is disqualified for the rest of the game. They can be replaced for the field-player count, but they're done — coaches can't sub them back in.

Common penalties don't count. A player who picks up 3 common penalties + 0 kickouts is not benched; one who picks up 3 kickouts + 0 common penalties is.

Eggbeater enforces this automatically — when the 3rd kickout lands, a red banner pops up at the desk, and the player shows BENCHED on the public box score so spectators can see it.

EE Earned Exclusion

This is the stat for the player who drew the foul, not the one who got excluded. Two players are involved in every exclusion call: the one kicked out (Excl) and the one fouled (EE). Tracked separately so attackers who consistently draw 6-on-5 power plays get credit.

Earned exclusions do NOT count toward the 3-strike rule. A player can draw 10 exclusions and still play the whole game — they're being fouled, not committing fouls.

6. Situational modifiers — what tells you HOW the play happened

The difference between a serious water polo stat tracker and a casual one is the modifier flags. Same Goal stat, very different stories:

6-on-5 power play goal

Goal scored while the opposing team was a player short due to an exclusion. Power-play efficiency is a critical team stat — a team that converts >50% of its 6-on-5 chances is offensively dangerous.

Counter-attack goal

Goal scored on a fast break — recovering possession and pushing the ball up the pool before the defense sets. Counter-attack goals tell you a team is fast and aggressive in transition.

Forced Ball Under (FBU)

A steal modifier. Means the defender forced the offensive player to push the ball under the water (a turnover-causing infraction) rather than picking off a pass. FBU is a much more aggressive stat than a regular interception steal.

Inside-2m

Used as a modifier on Turnovers and GK Saves. Inside-2m turnover means the offense lost possession in the most-dangerous attacking zone (right in front of the cage) — usually an offensive foul on the set position. Inside-2m save means the goalie stopped a point-blank shot — those are the highlight saves.

7. How to read a real box score

Pull up any game on the public tournament page and you'll see a table per team that looks like this:

Sample row: #7 Reyes · G 3 · A 1 · Sv 0 · TO 1 · FB 0 · Excl 1
Translates to: Cap 7, scored 3 goals, made 1 assist, no saves (he's not a goalie), lost possession once, no field blocks, was kicked out once. Solid game.

What to actually look for, in order:

  1. Who scored the goals. The G column tells the headline story.
  2. Who set them up. A column credits the playmakers — high A counts mean a creative attacker.
  3. Goalie line. A goalie's Sv count contextualizes the score: a 5-game with 18 saves is a very different goalie performance than a 5-game with 4 saves.
  4. Excl line. Players in foul trouble — anyone at 2 kickouts is one mistake away from disqualification.
  5. Earned Excl. Tells you which attackers are drawing fouls (and likely creating power plays for teammates).
  6. Steals + Field Blocks. The unsung defensive contributions — players with high counts here are doing the work that doesn't show up in the score line.

Want every stat in this guide tracked automatically — for both teams, in real time?

Eggbeater's tournament scorer captures every stat in this article at the player level for both teams, with all the situational modifiers built in. Spectators see the box scores update in 5 seconds.

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