LE Points
The NCAA took drastic measures to speed up the sport known as the “fastest game on two feet.” Have they worked? LM examines their impact.
By Joel Censer I
t did not take long for the new NCAA men’s lacrosse rules to find center stage — a Feb. 10 showdown in Rhode Island.
Holding a 13-12 lead against Bryant with less than a minute left in its season opener, Colgate coach Mike Murphy tried to use his first timeout at the right moment. During the offseason, Murphy pored over every part of the new rulebook. As the Raiders cleared the ball and handed it over to reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Peter Baum, Murphy knew that, because his team was up a goal and in its own offensive box, the referees likely would implement the 30-second shot clock quickly.
Murphy also knew if he called a timeout immediately after the “timer on” signal, those 30 seconds automatically dropped to 10.
As Baum crossed the restraining line and evaded a Bryant double team, Murphy eyed the officials. Thinking the shot clock went into effect only after all three referees raised their arms in the air, Murphy signaled for a timeout moments before what he believed to be the official “timer on” call.
The referee, however, disagreed with
Murphy’s interpretation, awarding Colgate the timeout but giving the Raiders only 10 seconds to generate a shot on goal. Other discrepancies arose. Colgate’s timeout came at 55 seconds according to the clock on the scoreboard, but
the 10-second shot clock — operated manually by a referee’s hand count — ended after a Colgate shot went wide at 41 seconds. Bryant eventually got the ball back and tied the game with 8 seconds left before Raiders midfielder Jimmy Ryan ended the Bulldogs’ upset bid with a side-armed goal in overtime.
>>RUNNING WITH THE RULES CORNELL Goals per game
Cornell fifth-year senior Rob Pannell served noticed on Twitter the night before an anticipated March 2 matchup with Colgate and reigning Tewaaraton winner Peter Baum. Pannell was watching Syracuse and Virginia play to a 9-8 overtime final in the Carrier Dome. “Thought this game was gonna be run and gun? Guess upstate NY fans will just have to wait till tomorrow!” Pannell tweeted. He was right. Cornell raced to an 8-0 first-quarter lead and crushed the Raiders 19-3. Pannell himself took 18 shots in a game against Binghamton.
— Corey McLaughlin
2012 (13 games) 12.00
Shots per game 40.80 Saves per game 8.69 Ground balls
33.46 A Publication of US Lacrosse
2013 (through 4 games) 16.75 51.50 10.25 38.75
In many ways, the exciting-yet- perplexing end to the Colgate-Bryant game put the positives and negatives of college lacrosse’s rule changes on full display. Whereas the last few years often had end-of-game scenarios turned into glorified games of keep-away, both the Raiders and Bulldogs had ample scoring opportunities in the waning minutes. But the game also demonstrated how difficult it is for people to make complex discretionary calls about pace of play, especially without the presence of a visible, mechanical shot clock. After a third consecutive national championship game in which neither team scored double-digit goals — Loyola defeated Maryland 9-3 — the NCAA men’s lacrosse rules committee made a concerted effort last summer to revamp “the fastest game on two feet.” In August, the committee finalized several proposals, including a longer substitution box, no sideline horns, new stick stringing policies to encourage crisper passing, quicker restarts, and most notably, a 30-second shot clock procedure when a team receives a stall warning. During an era in which coaches ran
inverts as much to manage games as to score goals — and where having to “keep it in the box” was not an effective deterrent to a stall — the new rules have had the intended consequence of eliminating those 2-, 3- and 4-minute long standoffs behind the net. They have promoted more scoring and a faster pace.
April 2013 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 43
©GREG WALL
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