Lacrosse Field Rules

Lacrosse Field Rules
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The design of a lacrosse field is basically the same for men and women, although women usually play on a longer field because they have 12 players on a side instead of 10, the team size for men's teams. What most distinguishes a lacrosse field from a soccer field, which it is most like, is that there is considerable space behind each goal (about 15 yards deep) for players to set up the action and recover missed shots.

Men's Field

The men's field is usually 110 yards long and 60 yards wide. The attack/defensive area is defined by a line that is 20 yards from the midfield line and 35 yards from the end line. The offense has 10 seconds to get the ball into the attack/defensive area from the moment the ball crosses midfield.

Women's Field

Women usually play lacrosse on a field that is between 115 and 140 yards long and 60 to 70 yards wide. Unlike the men's field, which has a specific out-of-bounds line, the women's out-of-bounds area is determined by the referee for each specific game. The women's field also has a 12-meter "fan" in front of each goal, which the referee uses to place players after a foul has been called. Within the fan is an 8-meter arc and defenders cannot be in the arc unless they are within a stick's length of their attackers.

Crease

Around the goal is a circle, with a diameter of 5.5 meters, known as the crease. Players are not allowed to touch the goalie inside the crease, but they can reach their sticks in to try to gain possession of the ball.

References

Article reviewed by Contributing Writer Last updated on: Apr 13, 2010

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