REWRITING THE GAME PLAN
Penn State’s Jeff Tambroni, considered by his peers as one of the top coaches in the Division I men’s game, broke down the influence of the new rules on practice and game planning.
1. Clear focus on transition The Nittany Lions spend less time practicing riding and clearing and more time on transition, unsettled situations, offense, defense and man-up and man- down plays. During games with no horns, fewer situations call for stoppages.
“Clearing has gone from dead- ball clearing, end-line clearing, sideline clearing, in-bounds clearing and man-down clearing to now just clearing,” Tambroni said. “I feel like we’ve gone back to the late-’80s, early-’90s in the style of play.”
2. Less-scripted late-game tactics
End-of-game and end-of-quarter situations have become much more uncertain with the threat or implementation of a 30-second shot clock after a stall warning, which Tambroni said “is basically a penalty.” Gone are the days when a coach needed to instruct multiple defenders or a goalie to chase a ball-carrier in the box to try to regain possession with a stall warning.
“If there are two minutes left in the game, you could get the ball two or three times, and run a lot of comfortable offense,” Tambroni said. “It will make for much more dramatic endings.”
3. More emphasis on LSMs, two-way middies The long-stick defensive midfielder, which in the post-
Brodie Merrill/
Kyle Sweeney era had already taken on significant influence, has further evolved. “You’re defending more possessions, probably about four to six more per game,” Tambroni said. You need long- stick midfield depth or a well-conditioned starter. (Think Maryland’s Jesse Bernhardt.)
And with fewer opportunities to sub midfielders without horns,
traditionally offensive midfielders need to play sound defense. “Offensive
midfielders end up playing a lot more defense,” Colgate’s Peter Baum said.
— C.M.
>>
RUNNING WITH THE RULES
Should we be surprised? The fact that Virginia moved short-stick defensive midfielder Chris LaPierre to offense heading into this season signaled that the Cavaliers were prepared to adapt to the new rules that put an emphasis on strong, versatile midfielders. Virginia ranked third nationally in ground balls per game last year and through six games this season, its activity in that category had increased by nearly seven per game.
VIRGINIA — C.M. 2012 Goals per game
(16 games) 11.50
Shots per game 37.30 Saves per game 10.88 Ground balls
35.25 2013
(through 6 games) 13.67
50.30 8.83
42.17
46 LACROSSE MAGAZINE April 2013>>
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©MATT RILEY
©JOHN STROHSACKER
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