Defensive Area Line

[RILAX]

Originally posted by macnine
I am a first year NFHS lacrosse official and I don't understand the positioning of players at each end of the field during a faceoff.

I have been told by a few veteran officials that during a faceoff, the players behind the defensive area line could not go into the area between the goal area and the sideline until there was possession. Since Rule 1-2-4 states "Defensive are lines shall be parallel to the end line and marked on each side of the field 20 yards from the goal line and extend from sideline to sideline. The defensive area line shall coincide with the 40 yard portion of the goal area line", I thought that the players awaiting the faceoff could be lined up anywhere from sideline to sideline behind the defensive area line. Rule 4-4 states "The positions of the other players on the field, before the start of a faceoff, shall be as follows: ART1: When a team has all of its players on the field, it shall confine its goal-keeper and three other players behind the defensive area line..."

Can someone please explain the positioning of players during the faceoff and when they are released other than by possession?

First, the players are arranged in the following way:

1 player at center “X” performing the face off
2 players behind each of the wing area lines (one on each side)
3 players in the defensive area of there offensive half of the field
1 goalkeeper and 3 players in the defensive area of the defensive half of the field

The defensive area does run sideline to sideline and it includes the 35 yards from the end line to the defensive area line. The way that rule 1 goes about describing the lines on the field is a bit arcane so don’t get tripped up by the language.

Now if one (or both) team has a man in the table area serving a penalty that team may bring one man from either defensive area (including the goalkeeper) to fill that position in the midfield area however that team does need to maintain the 3 men in the offensive half of the field and 4 men in the defensive half of the field for offsides.

Next there are four ways to end the face-off:
1) Position is obtained by a team
2) The ball goes out of bounds and is awarded to a team
3) The ball crosses the defensive area line
4) There is a time serving penalty

Noticed that a loose ball technical does not end the face off. So if you have a procedure etc and the ball goes to lets say “A” all the players in the defensive areas need to stay there until the ball becomes live. Now after the ball is awarded to the “A” team “B” commits a dead ball foul it would be timeserving and that would end a face off.

Now if there is an interruption of play before one of the 4 ways a face off can end the ball would be refaced and the AP arrow would NOT be used. If there are simultaneous personal fouls before position that ends the face-off and the AP arrow would be used.