College Lacrosse - help me out

[Sec19Row53]

I'm going to be attending my first ever lacrosse match in early May when Duke comes to visit Marquette. I've never so much as watched more than a fleeting glimpse of lacrosse.

So - what do I need to know? Is there a website someone would recommend to get me up to speed? Players on Duke I need to watch... Rules I need to know... Anything.

Thanks for any help (and yes I know I could google it, but I figure there are lacrosse fans here, so this is my launching point).

[bigbean24]

Best lacrosse site on the web:

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/

[WizKid]

Also try

http://www.laxallstars.com/

http://laxpower.com/

http://collegecrosse.com/

[RyanMcD29]

I'll help you out a bit a little later today when I'm not as busy to help you get on track

[RyanMcD29]

Alrighty, here's some good tips for getting into it.

All the links provided above are great tools to get yourself in the know about this season. I do infographics for College Crosse, and most of the stuff we do is mainly diving into statistics with a side of EDSBS-style zaniness at times. Inside Lacrosse is probably the forerunner to college lacrosse blogs and websites and has got a ton of great analysis and news. LaxPower's a very good resource to find schedules and computer rankings and stuff, as well as an aggregate of press releases from teams.

As for the rules, the one most confusing rule for a new fan is the shot possession. When a shot misses the cage and goes out of bounds, possession goes to the team whose player was closest to the ball. So the team that misses the shot more likely than not will still be on offense. Otherwise, in a "clear", when a team gets possession on the defensive end, the team has 30 seconds to get the ball into the restraining box. Thanks to the new rules, this is basically the only use the restraining box has now (aside from keeping attackmen and defensemen out of the neutral area until possession's called on faceoffs). If the pace of the game is going too slow, the referee can issue a Stall Warning. When a stall is called, the team on offense has 30 seconds to get a shot on cage to eliminate the shot clock (which by the way cannot be seen, only the ref can. This is a new variation on the stall warning so its kind of in its infancy). A wide shot does not reset the clock, and the team will lose possession if they don't get a shot in time. However, there is no reset on a shot on goal, the clock just simply disappears. The clock also disappears if there's a penalty.

Penalties vary from 30 seconds-3 minutes, mainly 30 second technicals or 1 minute violations, and the offense will go on an Extra Man Opportunity, which is basically the same as a power play in hockey. Some penalties, however, are unreleasable during that time period.

Also, you'll notice defensive players have longer, six-foot poles instead of the standard short stick. There's a limit of 4 of them that can be in a game at one time, so you'll often see a designated long stick midfielder come on for faceoffs and defensive situations.

Anything else I can help with?

[nicktharipper]

Huge oversimplification here, but it works:

Think of the offense as basketball. The fundamentals for a pick are identical, and the general concept is usually similar (work the ball outside, take the outside shot to spread the defense and open up easier inside looks).

Time serving fouls result in a "Man Up" or an "Extra Man Opportunity". Think of this as a powerplay.

New for this year, if a team is stalling or is in question of stalling, the refs can call a 'Timer On' situation which essentially starts a 30 second shot clock. This stays in effect until a shot hits either the cage, back of the net, or the goalie.

[Sec19Row53]

Thanks for the help so far. I'll be doing some reading this weekend, and will probably be back with questions.

Does one of those links contain a rules digest/summary?

[RyanMcD29]

I think the NCAA website might have a rulebook for you. Also ESPNU has a tripleheader of games tomorrow (Hopkins-Loyola, Cornell-Princeton, and Syracuse-Notre Dame) so you can get up to speed watching those

[WizKid]

It's good to see more people care about lacrosse here on the boards.

@RyanMcD29, dude I'm a huge fan of your infographics especially, THE FACEOFF! Superb job.

[Sec19Row53]

Wow. Marquette clearly outclassed. They were down 3-0 before touching the ball.

Fun to watch, though. Is the twirling of the crosse habit, or is there something to gain in doing so?

[illwauk]

I think the "twirling" is a rule in lacrosse akin to dribbling in basketball. Supposedly, it's the "Jim Brown Rule" and was added when he played at Syracuse.

[Still MIGHTY]

It's called cradling. It's basically to maintain control of the ball in your stick. If you didn't do that whilst running around, the ball would fall out of your crosse. (Or at the very least wouldn't sit at the bottom of the pocket and would result in some awful shots/passes)

So yeah it's kind of like dribbling but theres no rule stipulating that you have to do it.

[sc49erfan15]

It's called cradling. It's basically to maintain control of the ball in your stick. If you didn't do that whilst running around, the ball would fall out of your crosse. (Or at the very least wouldn't sit at the bottom of the pocket and would result in some awful shots/passes)

So yeah it's kind of like dribbling but theres no rule stipulating that you have to do it.

^ pretty much. Basically, the centrifugal force of the cradling motion helps you control the ball as you're running. Without cradling, you really couldn't do much, and you'd be running around like you were holding an egg on a spoon. I played lacrosse for about 15 minutes at Winthrop, for a new player, cradling takes a lot of practice. Running while cradling... it's tough. I got the hang of it after a bunch of pickup games. Lacrosse was a blast, I wish I'd never given it up.