Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports all around the country. It is a fast paced, high scoring game that requires an immense amount of skill and athleticism. Due to lacrosse being a relatively new sport, learning the rules can be confusing. There are a lot of things that lacrosse fans need to know about the rules to understand the game better and be able to fully invest themselves into the game. Between high school, college and Pro, the rules are fairly close to the same with a few minor differences between the pro game and the college and high school game.Never heard of this before? Get up to speed here.

In the typical field lacrosse game, there are 11 players on the field per team. One goalie, three midfielders, three defenseman and three attack men. The field is about the size of a soccer field but it has more lines on it. There is a midfield line, two “boxes” (one per half) and a crease that is a circle that is 8 feet in diameter. There can only be 6 players per team on one side of the field at a time so if a 7th player crosses the line, it is a 30 second technical penalty. If a player touches the opposing teams crease at anytime, it is a turnover of possession. The boxes are used for some other rules as well, if there is under two minutes left in the game, the current winning team is not allowed to step out of the box. If they do, it is a turnover of possession. Also, when a team has possession, they must step in the box every ten seconds or they will get called for failure to advance.

Those are the nit-picky rules, there are other rules involved but most are related to penalties. Slashing happens when a player hits another with his stick in the head, back or legs. A very common call in lacrosse is when the ball is on the ground and someone pushes another player in the back, this is a referred to as a loose ball push and requires a change of possession. There is also a push with possession, which is a 30 second technical. There are penalties that are referred to as non-releasable, which means if a player gets a penalty and the other team scores, he is not released. This only occurs when a player gets a penalty for an illegal stick or the team does something on the bench like an unsportsmanlike.

The only difference between the college and pro game is in the pros, there is a chance to take a “two” point shot. The normal “box” on the college field is now an arch similar to the three point shot in basketball.