Vineland High School Athletics Department: Lacrosse

There are ten players on each team: three attack, three middies, three defense, and one goalie. The game starts with a face-off between two middies. After a whistle from the ref, the two center

middies struggle for the ball and four wing middies run to help. No other players can participate in the game until one team gains clear possession of the ball. The middies then have ten seconds to bring the ball into their opponent’s "box" (or defensive area). From this point, it’s all about scoring a goal. This is usually done by A) exploiting a fast break, or B) using a "play", or pre-arranged plan designed to confuse the defense. Each goal counts as one point. If the goalie or the defense gain possession of the ball, they have 10 seconds to move the ball out of their "box" and into the mid-field. Once the ball is brought across the mid-field line, the cycle begins again and the offensive team has ten seconds to bring it into the other team’s box. Play continues like this until a goal is scored. Once a goal is scored, there is a new face-off. Substitutions occur during stoppages of play or "on the fly" (like in hockey) through a special area near the coaches and the mid-field line. High school varsity games are divided into four 12 minute quarters and JV play four 8 minute quarters; however, it is not uncommon for a typical varsity boy’s lacrosse game to last about 1½ hours due to various stoppages.

Lacrosse Vocabulary

Attack: the lacrosse equivalent of a forward in basketball or soccer

Body Check: hitting your opponent with your body (usually the shoulder); a legal hit is from the front or side and between the hips and the shoulders

Box: 1) a common way of referring to the Defensive Area, the rectangular areas at both ends of the field in which most lacrosse play takes place; 2) the area used to make substitutions "on-the-fly", part of this area is also used as a penalty box and players who are being penalized can be seen kneeling here

Cage: lacrosse slang for the goal

Check: body or stick contact between players of opposing teams

Clear: moving the ball out of a team’s defensive area and up the field to the offense after a change of possession

Cradling: the lacrosse equivalent of dribbling; the rocking motion helps keep the ball in the pocket while running

Crease: the circle painted around the goal; members of the opposing team are not allowed inside it or they will receive a technical foul

Crosse: the formal name for a lacrosse stick

Face-off: the struggle for the ball at the beginning of the game and after a goal is scored

Long Stick: a stick used for defense and that has a longer shaft; only four of these are allowed on the field at once

Man-Down: term used to describe a team who has one or more players in the penalty box

Man-Up: term used to describe a team who enjoys the advantage of an extra player(s) because the opposing team has one or more players serving penalties; a power play situation

Middie: a mid-field player

Poke Check: a common stick check, the stick is used to make a precision poke at an opponent’s stick in an effort to dislodge the ball

Slap Check: the stick is used to hit another stick and dislodge the ball by force

Slash: swinging a stick with deliberate viciousness or reckless abandon; hitting an opponent illegally in any way with the stick

Warding: illegal use of your free hand to hold or push another player when you are in possession of the ball

X: name of the place directly behind the goal; you might hear a goalie make reference to this spot when calling out ball position.