JUNE 5TH, 2010 - THE GIRLS KEEP ROLLING, THE BOYS SEASON ENDS
As I typing this, the girls varsity team is continuing their best season ever. After beating Penfield in the sectional championship on Tuesday night (great write-up on the Pittsford Lacrosse homepage), they are playing in the state quarterfinal against the Section VI champions, Lancaster, in Buffalo. Good Luck Girls, GO PANTHERS!
For the boys, the storybook season ending last night, losing to Fairport 10-3 in the sectional championship game. While it certainly wasn't the end of the script we'd all like to see, the boys went where no Pittsford team has gone in 10 years, the Class A title game. For the seniors on the team, good luck, Godspeed, and we look forward to your future accomplishments, both on and off the lacrosse field. For the underclassmen, get some rest, ace your finals, and see you at "Whipple camp" and the 1812 tournament.
Rather than write a new "rule of the week", I have consolidated all rules entries for this season below. If the next regime of the PCLI leadership wants me back next season, I'd be happy to sign myself up for another year of "Ref McLiverty's Corner". Questions can be emailed anytime to
amm917@aol.com.
Have a great summer! Only 297 days to Section V opening day 2011 - can't wait!
Yours in Lacrosse, the Creator's Game,
Al
Boy's rule of the week - "What's a in-home, and why are they in-home?" (If you go to the box score on www.sportsfive.net for last night's Pittsford/C-C game, you will see that one of the C-C penalties was served by the in-home)
Before each game, the officials ask the head coach of each team "Coach, who's your in-home?" The coach responds with the number of a starting attackman, who is supposed to be listed as the first player in the scorer's book. That player will then serve any bench fouls, such as unsportsmanlike conduct on the coaches, or if the officials cannot determine exactly who the foul is supposed to be on. In the Churchville-Chili game, the officials noticed an illegal substitution, but could not determine which player the penalty was on, so the in-home served the penalty time.
Boy's rule of the week - "White Player slashes Blue Player - flag down. Blue Player turns around and uses abusive language to the White Player who just slashed him - another flag down. After both guys are in the penalty box, who gets the ball?" (Question submitted by Gavin Hess, full-time JV goalie, and part-time 5-6 grade boys official)
Great question, Gavin! This question brings up the concept of "sequence of fouls". When there is a clear sequence of fouls, then the last team fouled gets the ball. Since the last foul was the Blue Player with the abusive language, the White team gets the ball at the start of the penalty time (which are simultaneous, and full-time served, so both teams play with nine players for the full minute, regardless of who scores during the penalty time).
Boy's rule of the week "Overtime - how does it work, again?" - We've seen two overtime games already at the boy's varsity level, so this seems like a timely topic!
Boy's high school lacrosse overtime is "Sudden Victory" (most people call it "Sudden Death", but they use the other phrase in the rule book to be more "P.C."). At the end of a tied game in regulation, the officials grab the team captains again, and have one more coin toss. The winner of that coin toss picks which goal they want to defend for the first OT period - very important on a east-west field like Mendon HS, as you'd really like the other team's goalie to be staring into the sun at sundown. Then four minutes is put on the clock, and the teams play four-minute periods until someone scores. Each coach gets one time-out per OT period. And the rest of rules remain the same.
Boy's rule of the week - "Can a defender, running through a pick, wipe out the player setting the pick?" - Question courtesy of W.J. Rodenhouse - thanks, W. J.!
The short answer is "no". The defender running through the pick has to make some effort to avoid the pick, assuming they see it coming. If, in the judgement of the official, the defender delibrately "wipes out" the player setting the pick, then the correct call would be a one-minute personal foul for unnecessary roughness.
Boys' rule of the week - "An illegal stick - what makes it illegal?" (Since we're seen three of these penalties in the boys' varsity games this year, I figured this is a timely topic)
Each game, the officials grab two random sticks from each team, one each at the end of the first and third quarters. The most common penalties are:
- The pocket is too deep - you can see daylight between the bottom of the sidewall and the top of the ball, when holding the stick horizontally - this is a one-minute, non-releasable penalty, and the player can play with the stick, if the pocket is tightened up before it re-enters the game.
- The stick is too short (less than 40 inches for a "short-pole") too narrow (less than 6 1/2 inches, inside dimension at the top of the head) or the pocket "snares" the ball so it doesn't come out when the stick is flipped over - this is a three-minute, non-releasable penalty, and the stick is kept at the scorer's table for the balance of the game.
Boy's rule of the week - "Does the ball flying over the attack box end the 10-second count for the attacking team?" Question courtesy of Nick Howell, JV defenseman - Thanks, Nick!
The short answer is "no". The 10-second count starts whenever the attacking team crosses the midfield line on a clear, or any time the attack carries or passes the ball out of the attack box. In order for the 10-second count to end, the ball must touch something inside the attack box - a player, a stick, the ground, or the goal. If the ball is passed over the box without touching anything, the count continues, and the attacking team could lose the ball after 10 seconds for "failure to advance".
Boys Rules Question of the Week - "Modified rules - modified to what?" (Many parents and players contributed to this question)
Rather than me repeating them, here is the link to the official boys' Section V modified rules for the 2010 season:
http://www.gvloa.org/Modified%20Rules.htm
Boy's Rule of the Week - "Can an attackman go out of bounds, to avoid going offside?" (Question asked by varsity attackman Steve Troup - thanks, Steve!)
The short answer is "yes". Typically, on a clear/ride situation, the clearing player with the ball, the riding attackman, the sideline, and the centerline, arrive together at more-or-less the same time. If the riding attackman, in order to avoid running/sliding/falling offsides, goes out of bounds instead, that is legal, as long as he immediately returns to the field, on side of the field where he went out of bounds. This is a (very temporary) exception to the offsides rule.
Boy's Rule of the Week - "The 20-Second clearing count - how does that work, again?" (This is a repeat question from last year, but given the fact that many Canandaigua parents don't know it, I figure there may be a Pittsford parent or two who don't know the rule, either)
For high school boys games, once the goalie makes the save, the referee next to the goal turns on a 20-second timer, and also starts to swing his arm. The goalie has four seconds to pass, or run out of the crease with the ball. The clearing team then has a total of 20 seconds to run/throw/kick the ball past the midfield line, including the four seconds the goalie may have used in the crease. If the referee's timer goes off while the clearing team still has the ball on the goalie's end of the field, there is a whistle for "failure to advance", and the ball is turned over to the other team.
Boy's Lacrosse Rule of the week - "Required Equipment - what's in, what's out, and what the heck is a goalie supposed to wear?" (Question paraprased from an inquiry from our PCLI president, Michelle Hess)
First, the basics - all boys players, regardless of age or position, are required to wear a field lacrosse helmet, a mouthpiece, two lacrosse (not hockey) gloves, and have a stick in their hand in order to participate in the game. They also need two sneaker or cleats on their feet. All field position players must have shoulder pads and two elbows pads on. For high-school goalies, the arm pads and shoulder pads are optional, but a chest protector and a throat protector attached to the helmet are mandatory. For modified level and below, the goalies are also supposed to wear shoulder pads and arm pads, in addition to the chest protector and the throat protector. Goalies are allowed to wear football pants, with or without the pads installed, but they are not allowed to wear hockey goalie gloves or baseball catcher shin guards, at any level of scholastic play.
Boy's Rule of the Week - "When can you hit the other guy?" - Question provided by Scott Fairbrother - thanks Scott!
The boys HS rulebook states "body checking in possession of the ball or within five yards of a loose ball or when the ball is in flight within five yards ot the player, from the front or side above the waist and below the neck, is legal". A long definition, but it covers the bases. Illegal body check are typically called when the player being hit is:
- More than five years beyond the loose ball, or ball in flight (like cleaning the goalie's clock after the clearing pass).
- Hit from behind, below the waist, or above the shoulders - depending on the severity of the blow from behind, it could be called a 30-second push, or a minute illegal body check.
- Checking a player while any part of his body, other than his feet or hands, are touching the ground. If you hit a player on the ground, expect a flag.
Boy's Rule of the Week - "One handed checks - legal or not?"
The answer to this one is "it depends on what level you're playing at". For RALL league games, and modified games, one-handed defensive checks are illegal, and the boys are supposed to keep both hands on the stick while playing defense. For varsity and JV boys, one- handed checks on defense are legal, as long as the free hand is neither pushing nor holding the offensive player. I can tell you as soon as I see the defender's free hand comes off the stick, I am staring directly at that free hand, and if I see anything suspect, the flag will be coming out, and that defender is heading for the box for 30 seconds. So be very, very careful with the one-handed checks, guys!
Boy's Rule of the Week - "The shot-out-of-bounds rule - who gets the ball?" (based upon the fan feedback at the Carrier Dome yesterday, there is still a great deal of confusion on this one).
In both boys and girls lacrosse, after a shot is taken, the ball is awarded to the team who has the closest in-bounds player to the ball, at the instant the ball crosses the sideline or endline. Most of the negative fan feedback I hear (unfairly) aimed at the officials, is due to the following factors:
- It really has to be a shot, based upon the judgement of the official closest to the endline or sideline. What can look like a shot from the stands is really a pass on the field, or vice-versa.
- It's the in-bounds player closest to the ball, not closest to the endline, that counts. Just because the attackman sprinted to the endline after the shot, he's not necessarily closest to where the ball went out.
- The ball in lacrosse takes some really funny bounces after a shot. But as long as the momentum of the shot carries it out of bounds, the closest player still gets it. So a ball can be shot, bounce off the closest attackman, and go out of bounds. If, in the judgement of the official, the shot's momentum carried it out, the attackman still gets the ball. This is the exact opposite of what happens in any other sport I can think of, where the other team would get the ball.
Boys Rule of the Week - What's the deal with the stick head dimensions for this season? Do I have to get my son a new stick, or not?
The short answer is "NO!". The NCAA decided this year that the stick heads had gotten too narrow and contoured, so they made every college player get new heads, which are wider at the bottom, and eliminate the "Coke Bottle" shape so common in stick head design recently. However, the National High School Sports Federation did not adopt the NCAA stick dimension rules, nor have I heard anything about them doing so anytime soon. So junior's current stick is fine, until he breaks the head in the first spring practice.
