Hi Jorde Matthews, thanks for the question, and congrats on the Site Performance Score.

We have seen this happen (and in a few rare instances, the reverse) because of the differences in what is being measured.

The WP Engine Site Performance Score quantifies whether "typical performance meets customer expectations, and whether the site is well suited to handle unexpected bursts of traffic." This measurement focuses on the backend, particularly:

If you are seeing lower Lighthouse scores compared to Site Performance scores, we encourage you to focus on your front end performance, including JavaScript and size of statics, as well as accessibility. A good Site Performance Score means you've checked off having good TTFB -- not just under lab measurements (for example, when you run PageSpeed Insights https://pagespeed.web.dev/) -- but in the real world.

If you haven't had a chance to look through the documentation on Site Performance Scores, please see if addresses your questions:

Thank you!