4 Best Lacrosse Heads For Middies In 2023 (Ranked and Reviewed)
Playing midfield in lacrosse require endurance, toughness, and skill. Middies are explosive players that can play up and down the field. The best players are skillful at scooping ground balls, maintaining ball control through traffic, and passing and catching on offense. Having the right midfield lacrosse head can make an average player even better. And when combined with a top midfield lacrosse shaft, you’ll have a stick optimized for dominating the midfield position. In this article we will dive into the best lacrosse heads for midfielders and walk through how to choose the right one for your game.
What are the Best Midfield Lacrosse Heads?
- StringKing Mark 2V – Best Overall
- STX Stallion 900 – Best for Offensive Middies
- Signature Contract – Best Value
- Warrior EVO QX – Lightest
Our Pick
StringKing Mark 2V
The Mark 2 Series from StringKing is a family of heads with options tuned to various positions and specialties. StringKing contributes thoughtful engineering to optimize the shape, weight, stability and feel.
The 2V (versatile) is designed to be a great all around stick for the 2 way midfielder.
Highlights
- Great scoop: The leading edge of the Mark 2 has an optimized shape for improving ground ball play.
- Flexibility: Because the Mark 2 series has a family of options including a youth stick, this can be the one stick a player uses across their lacrosse life.
- Great to string: As you would expect from a String King product, the numerous stringing holes and diverse stringing options make stringing for the right level of whip, handle and recovery easy to perform, understand and adjust.
Pricing
The Mark 2V is at mid-range price point for midfield heads.
Bottom Line
The Mark 2V is a great midfield head that can be optimized for the individual player’s style. Its best universal feature is the optimized scoop that helps middies perform the most important job on the field: getting game-winning ground balls. The Mark 2T brings a similar profile with increased stiffness to support transition.
STX Stallion 900
Overview
The Stallion is a fundamentally sound head. And like a great player, it has become excellent by consistent improvement. The long-standing control and ease of ground ball available in earlier models are supplemented by improvements to the body itself.
Highlights
- Excellent control: the cant (essentially the degree of offset) and shape of the head allow for great handling.
- Durable: EnduraForm(™) material prevents breakage and deformation. This is a significant improvement over previous versions of the Stallion
- Great for stringing: Offset-The Stallion has the most legal offset. This offset, coupled with the optimal stringing (most players set a mid-high pocket) gives fantastic control both for accurate feeds and powerful step downs.
Pricing
The Stallion 900 is a more expensive option when priced against its peers.
Bottom Line
The Stallion 900 is a fundamentally consistent head that helps midfielders elevate their game. It will require some tinkering to get the stringing (particularly of the channel) just right. It has a great scoop, a stiff frame, and offers great feel. The Stallion’s shape and style lend itself to an offensive play, so D-Mids may wish to look at defensive lacrosse heads.
Signature Contract
Overview
The Signature Contract is an affordable universal lacrosse head suitable for players at all ages and positions. The head is light, strong and generally sound.
Highlights
- 12 month warranty: The Contract is a strong head and Signature backs up the equipment with a 12 month warranty.
- Versatility: The Contract is designed and marketed as a good lacrosse stick for all ages and positions. This shows up most obviously in the ability to set a low, medium or high pocket.
- Great head shape: The combination of a wide connection and a flare to the main channel give a great combination of forgiving catching and great control. The only sacrifice is that this hurts the angle of attack for field face-offs.
Pricing
The Contract is affordable and flexible.
Bottom Line
The Signature Contract Universal is an affordable head that is superb for all positions. It can work well for a new player and even be seen on the sidelines of pro games. The only thing it is not recommended for is face-offs. By design it is less pinched than more position specific alternatives.
Warrior EVO QX-O
Overview
The Warrior EVO QX-O is the latest edition of the legendary EVO series. The EVO QX has an offensive and defensive version. The head is light, strong and has a tight face contour. Twenty years ago, when the original evolution came out, players would bake our heads and pinch them for better contour, the Evolution boasted out of the box offset and a tight face. Stick rules have changed but the basic idea of a stick optimized for performance and control through traffic remains in this 6th generation stick.
Highlights
- Weatherproof: This ThermaLoc material is intended to withstand temperature swings from snow in the early college season to the 110 degree fields during summer ball.
- Focus: The QXO is optimized for the offensive player with a tight channel and light weight. The QXD is a bit thicker to allow more durability when throwing checks
- Stringing: The lower rail of the QX-D is set to support a low or mid-low pocket for ball control. The rail on the QX-O is lighter and supports a mid-high or high pocket.
- Important note: Although most elite players like to use stringing to tune their stick, the Warp stringing is an important advance as a reliable, low maintenance solution for stringing. It works out of the box and still works when the player left a muddy practice and threw it in mom’s trunk. This fits within the conversation of the overall best lacrosse stick for new players.
Pricing
The EVO QX is a mid-level cost. Informal research suggests that in the midwest and mid-Atlantic you pay more of a premium in retail stores.
Bottom Line
The EVO QX is a high quality stick for a high performing player. You will need to choose if they want an offensive or defensive focused head. The EVO QX may be the lightest head and is a great pairing for any lacrosse shaft.
What To Look For When Selecting a Midfield Lacrosse Head
Strung vs. Unstrung
Most of the feel when catching and throwing comes from the stringing of a lacrosse head. If you are a new player or lacrosse parent, you can purchase an unstrung head and have a trusted, local stick stringer add a great pocket to your stick. Alternatively, you can purchase a fully strung head online that is game-ready.
Cost
For most people this is a main consideration. The technical differences between the most expensive and least expensive heads on this list are subtle. If the extra money feels like a burden, it’s may not be worth it.
Weight
Velocity of shots flows from the head speed at release. Lighter heads are easier to shoot, pass, and cradle quickly. However, lighter heads are often less stiff and durable. As a midfielder, you need your stick to have a thoughtful balance of strength and weight. The best lacrosse heads for midfielders are mindful of this in their design.
Scoop
This is an important difference across sticks. The shape of the end of the stick and the contour of the leading edge will help pick up ground balls. This feature also seems to be a matter of preference. Some heads (most obviously the Stallion and Mark 2) have a contoured edge while others have a sharper leading edge. This is a question of feel so try to pick up some ground balls with each sample.
Face shape
The major elements informing head shape are the contour of the face, the degree of offset and the curvature of the head. Sticks with a tight face shape can improve control, but offer less forgiveness on ground balls.
Stringing holes
There are two elements here. The simplest question is how many stringing holes. More holes creates flexibility for stringing. Another element is how the holes interact with the stick shape. For example the Stallion is best strung with a mid-high pocket where the Contract Universal can be strung with various options.
Wrap Up
When selecting a lacrosse head for midfielders, there are several factors to consider. The most important of these include the stringing, weight, scoop, and face shape of the head. Cost and weight are also important considerations, as is finding a stringer who can put a pocket in the stick that best suits your playing style. With so many great lacrosse heads on the market, it can be tough to choose just one. But by keeping these factors in mind, you’ll be sure to find the best lacrosse head for your game.
