Women’s Lacrosse Rules Committee recommends 6

Media Center 6/8/2023 1:41:00 PM Greg Johnson

At its meetings this week in Indianapolis, the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Rules Committee proposed 6-vs.-6 play when the ball is possessed below the restraining line, beginning with the 2023-24 academic year.

All rule proposals must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel before becoming official. The panel is scheduled to discuss women's lacrosse rules recommendations July 19.

Under the proposal, teams would play 11 vs. 11 in total. Currently, NCAA women's lacrosse games are conducted with teams playing 7 vs. 7 below the restraining line and 12 vs. 12 overall.

Committee members think the changes would mitigate the congestion in the critical scoring area of the field and create more space that could encourage growth and enhance the safety of players. The recommendation also could improve officials' identification of three-second, shooting-space and off-ball fouls.

If the pace of the game increases, the committee thinks the proposal also could create more substitution opportunities.

"Our decision to change the format from 7 vs. 7 to 6 vs. 6 had a lot to do with the safety of our game," said Kim Wayne, the committee chair and women's lacrosse coach at Davidson. "Opening the field by eliminating two players from inside the 8-meter arc and below the restraining line will give the officials the opportunity to call other physical fouls that have been challenging to identify."

To curtail physical play outside the critical scoring area, the committee proposed increasing the scenarios when teams have the advantage of playing a player up.

Green cards, which are one-minute releasable penalties, will be given to teams committing fouls such as:

Officials also could give a five-minute red card for contact to the body if they think the contact warrants a greater penalty.

"The safety of our players was a point of emphasis going into this rule-change year," Wayne said. "We believe that holding players accountable for fouls by issuing a one-minute penalty will deter fouls that have increased the physicality of our game."

The committee recommended tweaking the three-second rule, specifying that a defender must be an arm and stick length away when guarding a player inside the 8-meter arc. Currently, the rule is the defender must be a stick length away.

Defensive players still would be penalized for three-second violations if they are not marking a player inside the 8-meter arc. Any defensive player inside the 8-meter arc must be guarding another player and can't be in the middle of the arc without marking a player.

Shoes could have soles containing aluminum, leather, rubber, nylon or plastic cleats, studs or bars, whether molded as part of the sole or detachable, if the official does not consider them dangerous.

06.08.23