New Face-Off Mechanics

[LaxRef]

I know people have been curious about this. There was some clarification on mechanics this weekend:

Violation on faceoff. If the ball gets knocked away from center as a natural part of the FOGO's move--the one that caused the violation--no foul, but any attempt to push the ball away after that will be a delay of game.

Official signals the violation. The FOGO needs to know he needs to sub out, and the other faceoff man or a teammate must get the ball and get into his offensive end, at which point the whistle will blow immediately. The player has to get the ball; the officials will not chase it down for him. If the violator gets involved in the play before subbing out, flag for IP (sub infraction).

The violator must sub out and have a sub come on. At that point, the sub can go back out and the violator can come back on if desired.

As stated earlier, wing middies are released immediately and can sub out or drop into the attack area. It's still a brief 6-on-5.

The officials on the rules committee (non-voting members) had suggested the idea of keeping the violator at center until the whistle blew to restart play in order to keep the restarts consistent, but the coaches didn't like it. A fellow official suggested to me the idea of having the violator go behind his defensive restraining line and having him stay there until the whistle, at which point he'd have to sub out. This would also solve the problem of what to do if a team violates and then calls a dead-ball timeout; currently, that seems to bail you out of the fast break situation.

I hope that helps.

[WinnytheSully]

So are you saying FOGOs can't hit it out to wings now?

[LaxRef]

So are you saying FOGOs can't hit it out to wings now?

Um, no. This concerns the new NCAA rule about violations before a face-off. Once we start a legal face-off, nothing has changed.

[massref]

It should be re-emphasized that this rule is for the NCAA rules. The NFHS faceoff violation remains the same in 2008.

[laxcomm]

This rule is also not part of the US Lacrosse "Recommended Rules" for Post-Collegiate (POCO) Clubs.

[eme]

What is not so clear in my mind is how much of a running start we give the non-offender who has perhaps chased down the ball several (or more) yards away from the FO box. I believe we blow it right away as soon as he scoops up the ball and NOT make him come to the center line and plant his feet before we blow the whistle.

[Rileylax]

hopefully the ball should still be relatively close to the "x." In that case I see nothing wrong with having hom pick it up and whistle him on. The intent of the rule is to give the offended team the advantage. Any delay takes it away by making it even.

[LaxRef]

The first thing that was discussed was just starting play even if the guy was in Zone 2 rather than making him get to Zone 3. The big problem with that is that if you start a 10-count right away you're disadvantaging the team since they might have to move the ball 15 yards just to get into Zone 3, and if you start a 20-count you disadvantage the other team because the team in possession could use that 20 seconds to run the clock, especially late in a close game.

Thus, it was decided not to blow the whistle until the ball is in possession in the offensive end. In this situation, the team being awarded possession has already been disadvantaged by having to waste part of their 5-second man-up opportunity to go get the ball, so we aren't going to require them to come to a complete stop as they step into the offensive end in this situation.

At least that's how I recall the discussion.

[eme]

So, whistle blows as the running-start player with possession crosses the midline.
If the ball squirts down into Zone 3, what then? Bring it back? Restart at the spot with feet planted?

[LaxRef]

So, whistle blows as the running-start player with possession crosses the midline.
If the ball squirts down into Zone 3, what then? Bring it back? Restart at the spot with feet planted?

I believe we said get play started outside the attack area as soon as an offensive player has the ball in his stick. As I recall, it was stated that a wing man could be the player in possession when play restarted; I don't think anyone specifically addressed attackmen, but if one of them had possession in the alley I don't see why he couldn't be the one in possession (other than that rule about the attackmen being restrained to the attack area that we all know doesn't mean what it says).:sad:

[laxfan25]

I asked the question at our District NCAA clinic on Sunday about the ball getting pushed ahead into the offensive half of the offended team, and the answer was that they had to come back reasonably close to the midfield, not to give them a 5 or 10 yard headstart.

[CardinalPuff]

has there ever been a resolution to the question of where to restart the ball should it roll into zone 3?....some controversy out here in the hinterlands...

[massref]

I asked the question at our District NCAA clinic on Sunday about the ball getting pushed ahead into the offensive half of the offended team, and the answer was that they had to come back reasonably close to the midfield, not to give them a 5 or 10 yard headstart.

I imagine that we could have a variety of mechanics if each District sort of decides what they are going to do with the ball pushed up in zone 3 somewhere. It seems like "NCAA memo time" to me. :clap: