The Ultimate Guide to Lacrosse Rules & Fouls

Want to try a fast-paced, entertaining sport that’s growing in popularity every year? Try lacrosse. Lacrosse has been around for nearly a thousand years. Native Americans invented the game sometime in the 1200s. In 2021, there were 1.89 million lacrosse players in the United States. Lacrosse is fun and relatively safe. Before you play, however, you need to understand the rules.

Once you understand a few basic concepts like how a match is started, how the players are positioned, what constitutes a foul, and how penalties are enforced, it’s an easy game to learn.

Basic Rules Explained

There are 10 players on the field for a men's team and 12 on the field for a women’s team. Each player has a stick, and one ball is used for the competition. There are two goals planted at each side. 

There are 4 different lacrosse positions: attack, midfield, defense, and goalie.

Attack: The role of an attacker is to score. They are exclusively used for offense and don’t leave the offensive side of the field. An attacker’s job is to initiate the offense and score goals.

Midfield: Midfielders are the only position group that plays on the offensive and defensive sides of the field. Their job is to facilitate scoring for the attackers and to help the defense when the opposing team is attacking. Midfielders are versatile and highly conditioned since they must run up and down the whole field. However, modern day lacrosse has adapted to having offensive midfielders and defensive midfielders.

Defense: The defenders’ job is to stay back and help their goalie. They are the main line of defense against their opponent’s attackers. Defenders have longer sticks to help them intercept passes and defend attackers with stick checks. A successful stick check in lacrosse is when the defender steals the ball from the offense or dislodges it with their stick. A body check is when the defender uses their shoulder/arms to push the player off the ball. A body check can only be done from in front of the offensive player, not on the side or behind them, and the defensive player must target their stick above the player’s waist or it’s a penalty. Because a defender’s job is more physical, defensive players are typically bigger than their teammates.

Goalie: The main job of a goalie is to stop the ball from going into the goal. They have larger heads on their sticks for this reason and wear chest and throat guards for extra protection.

Scoring

Players score a goal by getting the ball into their opponent’s net. Scoring can happen anywhere on the field except inside the crease. The crease is a circle that is 18 feet in diameter around the net. A lacrosse match lasts 4 quarters. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the match is the winner. 

The length of a lacrosse match varies from high school to professional leagues. The Premier Lacrosse League and the National Lacrosse League are 2 professional leagues based in the United States. Both leagues use a shot clock. That means teams have a limited amount of time to take a shot on goal. For the PLL, the shot clock is 32 seconds, and for the NLL, it’s 30 seconds. Below is a graph showing the format of different lacrosse levels.

Women’s vs. Men’s Lacrosse Rules

There are substantive differences between men’s and women’s lacrosse rules. Below is an explanation of how the rules differ between men’s and women’s lacrosse.

• Players: Women have 12 players on the field. They generally have 4 attackers, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders, and a goalie. Men have 10 players. It’s usually 3 midfielders, 3 defenders, 3 attackers, and a goalie.
• Field Dimensions: Women play on a larger field. Their dimensions are between 120 and 140 feet wide to 70 yards long. Men play on a field that is 60 feet wide and 110 feet long.
• Modified Checking: Women can only attempt to dislodge the opponent’s ball with their stick. There’s no body checking in women’s lacrosse.
• Draw: Each women’s match starts with a draw. In women’s lacrosse, 2 players stand on different sides of the midfield line. Each player has 2 of their teammates behind them. The ball is placed between each player’s nets at shoulder height. When the official blows their whistle, the players push the ball up in the air with their sticks. The goal is to get the ball to one of their teammates behind them. 
• Faceoff: A men’s match starts with a faceoff. That occurs when the ball is placed at midfield on the ground. Each player must stand outside the midfield line and try to secure the ball with their stick once the referee blows their whistle.

Personal Fouls vs. Technical Fouls

In lacrosse, a player violation is either a personal foul or a technical foul. A personal foul is more serious than a technical foul. A technical foul results in either a change of possession or the removal of a player for 30 seconds. A player who commits a personal foul is removed from the match for 1 to 3 minutes. Below are some examples of each type of foul.

Personal Fouls

• Slashing: Hitting any part of your opponent’s body with your stick is slashing.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Unnecessary roughness is an intentionally hard push, hold, or body check.
• Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Swearing, trash-talking, and arguing with officials is part of the unsportsmanlike conduct umbrella.

Technical Fouls

• Pushing: Pushing is when a player is pushed from behind. It’s legal to push from the front or side.
• Holding: Holding is when you hold an opponent with your free hand or your stick.
• Interference: Players who don’t possess the ball must have free movement to the ball. If they’re impeded, it’s a foul.

Lacrosse Equipment

There are fewer equipment requirements for women. They need a stick, a mouthpiece, a helmet, and protection for their eyes. Lacrosse shoes with cleats and gloves are recommended. Goalies wear a helmet with a separate face mask that has a throat protector. The length of a standard lacrosse stick is between 35.5 and 45.5 inches. Younger players use shorter sticks. The pocket of a women’s lacrosse net is shallower and springier than a men’s net.

Men need the same equipment as women along with shoulder pads, elbow pads, and helmets. Helmets are optional for women in most states. Goalies also wear chest protectors.

Lacrosse is a fast-paced, entertaining sport. Playing lacrosse is a great way to stay fit, have fun and compete.