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Author: WisconsinLacrosse
What’s the rule?
Each season the US Lacrosse Officials Education Program receives emails from coaches, players, parents, and officials on game situations wondering what the correct ruling is. Here are the top 10 questions from the 2016 season.
1. Player A is legally body checked and falls to the ground. While on the ground, he still chops at the other player’s stick with his own. I called this as illegal procedure, but the coach wanted to see it in the rulebook. Was this the right call? I could not find any ruling in the rulebook. My thoughts were it gave him an advantage to be on the ground.
A: There is no advantage gained from playing while on the ground. That player is likely more disadvantaged than the opposing players because his movement is significantly limited while on the ground. Remember that NFHS Rule 5.3 states that it is illegal to body check an opponent who is on the ground (stick checks are okay), and the rulebook does allow for the player on the ground to legally participate in play if he is able to.
2. Can a player be flagged twice for going offside once, returning to his half of the field, and then going offside again?
A: No. NFHS Rule 4.10 Situation F is clear on this game situation: “The same player going offside twice is one technical foul.” This is why many coaches will tell the player that went offside to go and play defense because the team may then play with 8 defenders (7 + 1 goalie) and increase their chances of putting the ball on the ground during the flag down.
3. Offensive player shoots and scores, the ball enters the goal first and then the player touches the crease due to his normal momentum. Is the goal good or does the player entering the crease wipe out the goal?
A: NFHS Rule 4.9.2.n states that a player “may legally score a goal and touch the crease area, provided the ball enters the goal before the contact and with the crease and his feet are grounded prior to, during and after a shot.” As long as the player does not dive (remains grounded) and he touches on or inside the crease line then the goal stands.
4. Assistant coach of Team A is holding a stick while on the sideline during a game. Coach of Team B asks for that stick to be checked. Referee rules it violates pocket depth and issues the penalty per the rules. Does the stick check apply to coaches or just to the players?
A: Under NFHS rules a coach-requested equipment check must refer to a specific player on the opposing team. The major reason is because under NFHS rules the officials must also check the required equipment of a player, and that cannot be done on a coach. According to NFHS Rule 4.27.1 these requests must be made during a dead ball and only one player’s equipment and crosse may be inspected per coach request. The coach may not ask the officials to check the assistant coach’s crosse, nor may be point to a stick on the opponent’s bench and ask the officials to check it. The request must be for a specific player on the opposing team.
5. When are horns permitted? Some folks say they are no longer allowed; or is their use more narrowly specified?
A: Horns are no longer permitted in games played under NFHS rules. All substitutions must be made on the fly. There are youth provisions permitting horns for play in the U9 and U11 age divisions if the local league authorizes their use (NFHS rulebook page 107).
6. Team A is man up and loses possession of the ball right before the end of a period. Team B (man down) gains and maintains possession when the period ends (still man down). Question: Is there a faceoff to begin the next period or does Team B (man down) get the ball?
A: There is no faceoff. Team B gets possession to start the next period at the spot the ball was when the period ended. Rule 4.3.1. Exceptions 1: “In the event of an extra-man situation or a flag-down creating an extra-man situation at the conclusion of a period, the next period shall be commenced by awarding possession of the ball in the same relative position on the field to the team that had possession of the ball (or is entitled to possession by a play-on) at the conclusion of the prior period.” This is why many coaches when there is short time on the clock but longer time on the penalty tell their players to hold onto the ball and not shoot. This is only applicable on a flag-down or when there is an uneven situation. If Team A and Team B have one player in the penalty box then even if one team has possession at the end of the period the next period will start with a faceoff.
7. A goal is scored using a stick that is found to be illegal after a coach requests a stick check to an official during the dead ball before the next faceoff. Does that goal count or should it be waived off? Also, if the player scored multiple goals are all of the goals he scored waived off?
A: The goal should be waved off, the shooter serves the penalty time (1-minute deep pocket, or 3-minutes for any other violation), and the ball is awarded to the opposing team at Center X. Rule 5.5 Situation F states: “Team B is a man down and A1 scores. Before the next whistle, it is discovered A1 was playing with an illegal crosse. RULING: Goal does not count. A1 serves a one- or three-minute non-releasable penalty.” The only goal that gets waived off is the goal scored right before the equipment check that discovered the illegal crosse. If the player scored goals earlier then they remain on the board.
8. During play an official blew his whistle. The defense stopped playing once the whistle was heard, but the offensive player continued to advance toward the goal. He made a shot after the whistle and scored. The officials counted the goal. Should play have been stopped after the whistle?
A: Rule 7.13.3 states: “In the event of an inadvertent whistle, play shall be suspended immediately. The team with possession or entitled to possession when the whistle was blown shall retain possession.” In this situation the goal should not count because the official blew his whistle creating a dead ball. Had the ball been loose outside the crease possession would be awarded via AP. Loose inside the crease awarded to the defensive team. If a team had possession, they would retain possession for the next restart. Rule 4.9.2.f further clarifies that a goal is not counted “after one of the officials has sounded the whistle for any reason, even if the sounding of the whistle is inadvertent.”
9. If a player has five minutes in penalties, he has fouled out. However, if the player in question had three 1-minute fouls. He served 4.5 minutes for them, as we were in a running clock game. So is the 4.5 minutes of time served count towards the five minutes or is it based on the actual time called out by the referee for the foul(s); 3 minutes?
A: The rulebook is quiet on this calculation for running time games, and the convention is to use the penalty time that would be assessed in a stop-time game for the purposes of determining disqualification. Three-minutes of personal fouls (4.5 minutes in running time games) would mean the player still has two minutes of penalty time before being disqualified. As a point of clarification technical fouls do not count toward minutes before being disqualified, only personal fouls.
10. If there are 5 long poles on the field, what is the penalty? Illegal stick, 3 minutes non-releasable or something else? Offending team did not have possession.
A: This is not considered an illegal crosse. This is illegal procedure and is a technical foul according to NFHS Rule 6.5.2.p: “having more than four long crosses in a game.” If the ball is loose this is a turnover to the opposing team. If the opposing team has possession of the ball while there are 5 long poles on the field then a flag should be thrown.
The Officials Education Program enjoys reading and answering the questions. If you have a question from a game this summer let us know by filling out the form here.
How did you miss that?
The following is a post written by Gordon Corsetti, Manager of Officials Education for US Lacrosse.
We say officials have the best seat in the house. While it’s true that we are the closest to the action we can’t watch the game the same way everyone else does, which is typically watching where the ball goes. I love being on the field officiating, but I only see one-half or one-third of the entire game depending on if I’m working in a two- or three-person crew. That’s because proper mechanics demand that at least one official watches the action that no one else is paying attention to away from the ball.
In a two-person game the field is split diagonally between the two officials in settled situations. The Trail Official is the furthest from the goal and takes a position just above the attack box. The Lead Official is near Goal Line Extended (GLE). Depending on where the ball is on the field, one official is responsible for the area immediately around the ball, while the other official scans the off ball action. They are known as the On or Off official.
The clearest distinction between the two officials’ responsibilities is on a shot. When a player shoots the only official responsible for watching that player is the Trail official. This official stays with the shooter watching for late hits. The Lead official tracks the ball as soon as it leaves the crosse, and often has no eyes on the shooter at any point after the shot. These separate responsibilities make it possible for one official to cover the goal, while having another official focused on the safety of the player. That’s an easy situation though, let’s do a tougher one.
In transition, a penalty could occur on the far side of the field opposite the new Lead Official (the official running to GLE during the clear), and the new Lead Official may call a personal or technical foul near the far sideline because that official has an unobstructed angle to the play. The new Trail Official coming up field may not even have eyes on the play if there are two players behind that need to be watched to make sure nothing bad occurs away from the play upfield. But even if the new Trail Official is running up he might have a lot of bodies in front of him and has no way to make the call even if he is closer than his partner.
If more coaches understood the basic mechanics of officiating (the Men’s Officials Rules and Penalty Course is available on learning.uslacrosse.org) and why we stand where we do, I think a lot of calls would make a lot more sense. For example, I officiated a tournament not too long ago where I was the Trail official in a settled play. The offensive player shot the ball near the crease, missed the goal, was pushed from behind, and landed in the crease. I put my hand into the air for a loose-ball push, and at the same time my partner as the Lead put his hand in the air and whistled the play dead for a crease violation. I asked what he had, and he said “White stepped in the crease.” I replied, “Yes, but he was pushed in first. The ball stays with White.”
Two coaches on the Blue team were not pleased with me and while my partner readied the ball for play they asked me what happened. I told them their defenseman pushed the shooter into the crease after he shot the ball, giving the ball to the White team. Then one coach told me that that call wasn’t my responsibility. He then told me that while in the Trail position all I was supposed to call was offside.
If I only had to call offside when the Trail Official then lacrosse officiating would be one of the easiest jobs I could think of! I’m only responsible for one thing? Great! I’m just going to stand on the midline and focus only on this four-inch line, and when a player gets destroyed on a late hit I’ll calmly inform the coach that I’m only supposed to call offside.
I’m being facetious here to drive home the point that the official furthest away from where the ball is may be in the best and only position to make the correct safety or fairness call for the situation. We have fundamental mechanics that are drilled into us in every training class and field evaluation because the referees that came before us experimented with a lot of different ways to officiate the game until they broke down the most effective ways to position officials to watch for safety and fairness.
Gordon Corsetti is manager of men’s officials education for US Lacrosse. You can support US Lacrosse officials education efforts through the US Lacrosse Foundation.
Level 2 Coach Development Program
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Building a Team Offense
What do you do first? Plan your strategy and try to make it work or evaluate your players and determine what your strategy should be?
There’s an old saying something along the lines of “You can’t make chicken salad without chicken.” Keeping that in mind consider the following as you begin to plan for your next season:
Who are my players?
What skills do they possess?
Basically, you need to know if you have “the chicken” needed to make the salad you want.
Once you have determined who your players are and what skills they bring to the field, it’s time to plan your strategy. This is what great coaches do. At the college level, many coaches go out and look for players with certain skill sets that fit the mold of the program. Most coaches are not lucky enough to be able to recruit kids to their program and as such have to “do the best they can with what they have.” The following is a list of skills you may observe as a coach, and how you can use them within your greater team strategy:
Skill — If the player… Ideal Position — Play team at … Strategy — using this strategy
Speed Midfield Play fast in transition and try to capitalize on odd number situations.
Feeding Attack Use off-ball movement to create scoring opportunities with passes into high-percentage shooting areas.
Dodging/Change of Direction Midfield or Attack Use dodging and change of direction to create defensive rotations and move the ball to open players for high-percentage scoring opportunities.
Outside Shooting Midfield Use offensive strategies such as fades and pops away from the defensive rotations to get the ball into the sticks of your outside shooters.
Field Awareness Midfield or Attack Use this player as a distributor. Put them into a position where they can read the defense and the ball movement accordingly.
By carefully evaluating your players, you can begin to build groups of players that complement each other and put them into systems that will work for them. Ideally, all your players would have all the noted skills, but as we know that’s not always possible. Having a mixture of these skills, organized into a system, will give your team the best chances for success on the offensive side of the field.
Welcome !
Welcome to the new and improved Wisconsin Lacrosse Web site. We hope you’ll take some time to click around and see how we’ve fixed up the place. Make sure you follow us on twitter @USLAXWI
