Shots to the Sideline

On January 27, 2013 team USA faced off against defending NCAA Champions The Loyola Greyhounds during the Champion Challenge at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The game was surprisingly competitive and came down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Normally blogs about goaltenders for these type of games would be about heroic saves or perfect outlet passes or goalies quarterbacking the defense but this year is a little different. Sure the game had all the fantastic goalie excitement of one-on-one saves and saves that we're turned into fast breaks, the goalie being the catalyst, but what stood out to me most was how the new rules affected the game.

During the first quarter, USA goalie John Galloway deflected a shot towards the sideline. Galloway being one of the quickest goalies playing today noticed Loyola star attackman Mike Sawyer running three quarter speed towards the errant shot. That's when Galloway decided to turn on the jets and attempt to beat Sawyer to the sideline. Even with the diving effort of Galloway, Sawyer was able earn possession. With the quick whistle Galloway had to sprint back to the crease but as we all know the ball travels quicker than any player. After 2 passes Greyhound Nikko Pontrello was able to score a mostly empty net goal. If this game was being played last season not only would Galloway have 5 seconds to get back to the crease but either team could have demanded a substitution horn.

Whether Galloway took a calculated risk or just forgot the new NCAA rule (not an international rule) during the heat of the battle, the lack of a 5 secound grace period will affect goalie play. During the chase for the sideline, Mike Sawyer turned his head a couple times to see where Galloway was in the race. Was last years Tewaaraton Award winner moving three quarter speed because he was baiting Galloway to continue running away from the crease knowing the quick whistle was coming? Not a bad strategy.  When it comes to taking risks outside the crease, goalies are taught "if your gonna go down, go down in flames" meaning if your going to go for the ball do everything you can to get it because whether you go halfway or all out, you are still going to be out of position so you might as well go all out.  That lesson may have to be abridged in the college game to "if your gonna go down, go down in flames unless your chasing a shot towards the sideline".

Will the Rule Change Affect the Goalie Position?

Every year the NCAA Rules Committee sits down and make attempts to fix the glitches that lacrosse’s evolution has brought about. In recent years many of the reactions from players and coaches are negative. I remember my freshman year of college at Hofstra University being told I had something like 10 seconds to clear the ball over my restraining line, then I had all the time in the world in between the restraining line and the midline, then once over the midline something like 10 seconds to get it in the offensive box. Then on top of that once the ball was out of your own box on a clear you couldn’t retreat back in with the ball (similar to a backcourt infraction in basketball), unless it was off a dead ball then the first pass could go back in the box and the 10 second count would start. It was a little confusing.

This past August the committee sat down in Indianapolis with its chair Jon Hind for four days. The end result was what Lacrosse Magazine called “Major rule changes”. These changes affect everything from stick regulations to substitutions. It seems that the biggest uproar came from the faceoff circle where many new rules are being implemented to prevent the sleight of hand tricks that these faceoff magicians use which would make David Blaine jealous. Lets be honest, in the faceoff circle, if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying. But what about the goalies? It seems that the new rule changes try to give the offense the advantage of catching the goalie out of position. The goalie no longer has 5 seconds to get back in the crease off a dead ball (full summary of the rule changes affecting goalies can be found here at about 13:00 http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/web_video/lacrosse/2013/MLAX_1212.html ). How will this affect the goalies role in clearing the ball or chasing errant shots? Will we see more open net goals or perhaps goalies getting pegged in the back during the all out sprint to the crease? Will teams try to force the goalie up field before applying heavy pressure with their ride? I cannot answer these questions with certainty. What I can tell you is every time a goalie chases a shot out of bounds, the further he goes the more risk he takes of being out of position especially shots that go out of bounds on the sideline.

I have heard a portion of the lacrosse community say the purpose of these rule changes is to have higher scoring games because thats what people want to see on television. More shots, more goals and lower save percentages. They are not 100% wrong but not 100% right. Yes, the new stalling regulations will prevent teams from running the Maryland style offense of slowing the game down by having long possessions. But with the new stick regulations offensive players will not be able to run through 2 maybe 3 defenseman before getting a shot off. The take-away defenseman was an endangered species. The ball would just not come out of the opponents stick. With the new rules teams will be forced to run actual offenses (I know, it’s a crazy concept). Teams will have to move the ball quickly and dodge to feed. With the new rules we will see much more transition and perhaps in a couple years the rejuvenation of defensive surgeons.

The rules of lacrosse have been evolving for as long as I have played and coached and they will continue to do so well after we have hung up our cleats and whistles. As players, coaches and fans, all we can do is evolve and adapt. People who claim to be purists believe the game is just fine and should not be touched. If these people were in charge the college game would have never evolved. We would still be facing off with the ball placed in the back of the pocket and Syracuse would still be running a 9 pole ride off a horn. Those who fight or ignore the change usually get left behind. In order to truly enjoy this sport one must embrace its change and adapt.