So…in case you haven’t heard: Michigan is a lacrosse school now! The men’s program is currently experiencing an all-time high and has just clinched its first ever NCAA tournament berth. The women’s program is also in the 2023 tournament, playing in their second consecutive NCAA tournament and third overall. 

Lacrosse is both the oldest game in America and its fastest growing sport. The game has been played by Native Americans for hundreds of years who consider it a sacred gift from the gods and used it as training for war. And now youth and high school programs are popping up all over the country and recruiting hotbeds are no longer contained to DC/Baltimore prep schools, upstate New York and Long Island. Top college teams now get recruits from places as far-flung as Minnesota, Texas and even Oregon and British Columbia. 

But, while college lacrosse is non-revenue, it is actually one of the great under-appreciated spectator sports out there. Lacrosse is fast, fun, and physical and it’s a game of runs so back-and-forth games with many lead changes are pretty common. Upsets, big comebacks and dramatic last second finishes are also not unusual, especially in the tournament. You will see great team performances as well as tremendous individual efforts. 

Lacrosse remains very niche and most people do not know a lot about it. If you are planning on tuning into the game and following the Michigan teams on what will hopefully be long and fun tournament runs and would like to know more about the game, I put this together just for you. 

The Basics* (most of this piece will address the men’s game. The women’s game is very different and I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know much about it!).

So, is lacrosse basically hockey on a soccer field? Well, yes. If you’ve ever tuned into a game and never seen it before, that’s exactly what it looks like. But, there are a handful of key differences. The field is similar to a soccer pitch, and approximately 10 yards wider than a football field. The goals are 6’ x 6’, bigger than hockey goals, much smaller than soccer. 

Men’s rules call for the pocket of the stick to be only a few inches deep (women’s sticks have almost no depth at all; cradling and all other stick skills are much more difficult in the women’s game).

If you watch, you’ll see elements of hockey, soccer, basketball and to a lesser extent, football.  And that is why skills in other sports lend themselves so well to lacrosse and many of the best players were also stars in those sports.

One way to think about lacrosse is to imagine if you could actually grab the damn hockey puck or soccer ball and have much more control over it. The ability of skilled players to possess the ball in their stick and pass with a high degree of precision, allows teams to run basketball-style plays. You’ll see pick plays, inside feeds, quick finishes and “extra pass” ball movement that are all very similar to basketball. And because players can control the ball so well, that puts a major premium on scooping up loose balls and winning faceoffs.

And because the rules allow for physical play, defense looks different and is more similar to hockey than basketball or soccer. Here’s how I like to think of it: imagine a guy is coming down the lane…but you can absolutely deck him. That’s lacrosse.

But the objective is simple: put the ball in the back of the net. 

Positions *(please note, these do not apply to the women’s game which is very different): 

It’s important to break down the basics of personnel and how they pertain to offsides since both of them are unique to the game of lacrosse. But the positions are simple, each team has:

1 Goalie

3 Defensemen (long sticks)

3 Midfielders

3 Attackmen

Beyond that, you have a handful of specialists at midfield including faceoff guys and long stick midfielders. Faceoff men typically only take the draw and then run off quickly, often referred to as “FOGO” for “face-off, get off”. Although some of them, including Michigan’s guys, will have the green light to take it in and shoot if space opens up for them. On faceoffs and defense, teams are allowed to sub off one midfielder and replace him with another long stick player who is essentially an extra defenseman but is really a midfielder. Teams also have specific defensive and offensive midfield lines as well. And they have man-up and man-down units for penalties.

Substitutions are done on the fly, so if you see someone holding the ball while other players are running towards midfield or the sideline, they’re changing the midfield lines and getting their offensive personnel on the field. 

Offsides

Offsides is also unique to the sport and probably the most important thing to know. Teams must keep 4 players (typically goalie, 3 defensemen) on the defensive side of the field. And they must keep three players on the offensive side (the 3 attack). But, a defenseman can go over as long as a midfielder stays back for them and vice versa for the attack. In fact, last week, Michigan attackmen Ryan Cohen and Michael Boehm both had plays in which they hustled back on defense to successfully prevent fast breaks. Fast break clears in which a defenseman takes the ball over and scores are very commonplace now. 

Offensive offsides will result in an immediate whistle and the ball will be turned over to the opposing team. Defensive offsides is a 30 second penalty. 

Penalties and Rules to Know

Once a team possesses the ball, they get an 80-second clock to get a shot on goal. If they gain possession in their own end they have until 60 on the shot clock to clear it across the midfield line. They’ve also added an over-and-back rule in recent years, so teams can’t pass or carry the ball back over the midfield line to the defensive end. If a shot hits the goalie or the post and the offense recovers the rebound, the shot clock is reset to 60. 

Very important: shots. On a shot - the team closest to the ball when it goes out of bounds is awarded possession. So after a shot, you will see players - even the goalie - absolutely sell out and dive out of bounds to be closest to it. As you can imagine, these plays late in games can be absolutely crucial. 

Similar to hockey, cross-checking (1 minute) and interference (30 seconds) are pretty common penalties and are defined roughly the same way. Holding and pushing are also common and will result in 30 second penalties. 

Slashing is very different from hockey, however. Players can throw stick checks on opposing players’ gloves and any contact on the stick is completely fair game (for the longest time, I didn’t realize you couldn’t just hack an opposing player’s stick in hockey).. However, any forcible contact from the stick to anywhere else: arms, shoulders, torso, legs, and especially the helmet and neck will result in a one minute penalty. You can usually get away with a hard check on the cuff or wrist but any higher on the arm will get penalized. 

Body checks are a lost art in lacrosse. Today even the cleanest hits seem to get flagged for a push or an illegal body-check. To cleanly body-check, players must keep both hands on the stick, keep their hands down and lead with the shoulder. Like football and hockey, any contact to the head or neck area, whether from a shoulder or the helmet will be flagged for a one minute penalty. There are also penalties for unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct. 

Players can body each other and even throw body-checks on ground balls, but they can’t outright extend their arms and shove a player. Loose ball pushes and holds will award the ball to the opposing team. 

Offensive players can’t go in the crease.

There are also a million ways to cheat on faceoffs. But, three faceoff violations (false start/jumping the whistle, holding, etc.) in a given period will also result in a 30 second penalty. 

Landscape and NCAA Tournament

Lacrosse is kind of an everyman’s sport: you don’t have to be freakishly big or strong to be a great player, although it can certainly help in some cases. Nor do you need to be blazing fast or athletic (but that also helps). But the game rewards quickness, agility, and hand-eye coordination. And, of course, skill, toughness and endurance. 

The game is still very white, but it is getting more diverse and many tournament teams will have a few black players and maybe even Asian or Latin players, which is great for the sport. Native Americans still have a prominent place in the game and some of the best players of all-time have hailed from the Iroquois Nation.

The women’s game is growing by leaps and bounds and  is truly coast to coast now. More than 126 schools sponsor women’s lacrosse at the varsity level in Division 1. And it seems like teams are being added at DII, DIII and NAIA ranks every day. The women’s game has changed dramatically over the last several years. It’s not as physical - the women don’t wear helmets or pads - but it’s becoming as fast as the men’s game. And many of the top players are incredibly skilled and athletic. 

Despite increasing diversity and massive growth at the youth, high school and women’s collegiate levels, lacrosse’s progress at the men’s Division 1 level has been glacial. The last few years have seen the addition of new programs at places like Michigan, Utah, Marquette, Richmond and even Hampton and more. But for the most part the men’s game feels stuck. The harsh realities of funding and football have likely discouraged athletic departments from launching new programs.

Another deterrent may be the fact that the top teams have a stranglehold on success. There are 72 mens’ teams in Division 1 and only 11 of them have ever won a national championship. And even then, life can be difficult as a blue blood. Cornell, Michigan’s first round opponent this Sunday, won the first ever NCAA tournament in 1971 and is regarded as one of the best programs of all-time. But even they haven’t won a title in almost 50 years. Notre Dame, one of the best programs in college lacrosse since the millennium and frequent participants in the Final 4 and title game, still has never won one. 

Nevertheless, schools from 12 states ranging from North Carolina to Rhode Island to Utah and the District of Columbia are represented in this year’s tournament. And two teams from major Power 5 conferences, your Michigan Wolverines and the Runnin’ Utes of Utah, are playing in their first tournament. Utah is the westernmost team to ever make it, so here’s to hoping the game is becoming less stubbornly east coast. 

The men play Cornell Sunday at 2:30 and the women already won their first round matchup with Central Michigan. Congrats Ladies! They get a rematch with powerhouse Northwestern on Sunday at noon. So we’ll have back-to-back Michigan tournament games! GO BLUE!!!

[If you have any questions, put them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them! I’m also working on an in-depth preview that I’ll try to get up tomorrow.]