Just seen this today:

http://nfhs.org/press/lacrosse_rules_changes03.html

There are four main changes:

First ball retrievers are no longer needed as long as there are at least 4 balls across the end line set back 5 yards. This does not seem to be that big of a change.

Second is that if any person receives two unsportsmanlike penalties they are ejected. It seems that both can be only one minuets long. (Before an ejection foul was three minuets long). How ever this is not 100% clear.

Third is that goalies now have 5 seconds to reenter the crease on any restart. This was normally done in games I have seen and imagine was normally done in general.

Fourth is that the ball will be placed at the center “X” on all offside penalties where the ball was on the defensive half of the field of the offended team.

“The Rules Committee also identified three Points of Emphasis for 2003-04: sportsmanship, mouth guards and playing field specifications.”

The big two seem to be the second and forth rule changes.
Generally benign stuff unless the second unsportsmanlike foul needs to be a 3 minute long penalty.

I read this a while back and none are really big changes.

1) I agree, ball retrievers is no big deal.

2) Coach gets 2 and hes gone. The way I understand it is say coach gets 1 minute for the second USC and thats all they serve(not the 3 minutes) but the coach has to leave. I'm sure they will clarify this in the rule part or most likely the case part.

3) I always gave time for goalie to get back.

4) Seems good to me

Points of Emphasis
I already emphasized sportsmanship and mouth pieces. Playing field specifications is a new one though.

Just reread some of this and it seems that no mater what the ball goes to “X” on offsides, even if the team that is clearing the ball goes offsides. Technically with the rule change a team that is about to get a 4/10 second violation or something like that could go offsides and move the ball up to “X”. (If a team is that smart/good why are they getting the 10 scecond count to begin with…)

I don’t think this is what the rules committee meant to do by this rule change and there may be an addendum coming out.

The offical rule change is:

4-12-4 NEW When the team in possession of the ball is offside, the ball is awarded to the opposing team at the center of the field

the rest are at:
http://www.nfhs.org/sports/lacrosseb...les_change.htm

Rules Changes
 

Two things.

First, RILAX, I'm not sure what you are interpreting here from the new offside rule with the failure to advance rule? If the team clearing the ball goes offside while they are still in their defensive half of the field, then the opposing team gets the ball right where it is (provided the ball is not in the attack box, then the ball is moved outside the box.) The only time the ball is moved to the center is if the team that goes offside is in their offensive half of the field. Then the ball is moved back to the mid-field line and given to the opposing team at that point.

The reasoning behind this is that officials usually take a while to call the offside, because they want to make sure the team is actually offside before they blow the whistle. Officials will count the players a few times first, to make sure they didn't miss anyone, and then call the violation. The problem with that is by the time they make the call the ball has usually moved pretty far into the offensive zone. With the old rule, when you make a call that results in just a turnover (technical foul on a team in possession of the ball) the ball was awarded to the opposing team at the spot where it ball was when the whistle was blown. With this rule changes, the ball will know be awarded where the violation actually took place (the mid-line.)

Second, the new rule that allows the goalie 5 seconds to get back to the goal on all restarts is an important change from this stand point. The way the old rule reads, the goalie was only given five seconds to return to the goal if he was chasing a shot out of bounds. Under all other restarts, he was not suppose to get this five seconds. So, if a goalie took control of the ball and ran all the way down the field and he lost the ball out of bounds, on a violation, or any other way that caused a whistle to be blown and the ball turned over he was not supposed to be given five seconds to get back to goal on that type of restart. With the new rule, the goalie is now given five seconds to get back to the crease on all restarts, not just when he is chasing the ball out of bounds on a shot on goal.

Re: Rules Changes
 

The only thing I have been able to see about the rule changes are on NFHS web sight. They list the rule change as: 4-12-4 When the team in possession of the ball is offside, the ball is awarded to the opposing team at the center of the field. It does not discuses anything about the position of the ball when the team goes offsides. There might be different language in the actual rule book and/or case book examples saying that the ball can only be advanced (not moved back) to the center “X” but I have not seen them.