NCAA Rule Changes

Along with many other sports around the world, there are often rule changes that are implemented with hopes of improving the game. Often times these rules are beneficial and help take sports in the direction they need to go in. Other times, the rule changes go horribly wrong and leave many people frustrated and disappointed. For the most recent 2019 Men’s NCAA Lacrosse season, there were some notable rule changes that were caused after much conversation and strong opinions within the lacrosse world. In the professional outdoor game, you are permitted to dive in the crease when attempting to score. To explain it in simpler terms, you are allowed to leave your feet, shoot the ball into the net while mid-air, and then land in the crease after the ball has gone into the net. The argument behind this rule change is that it allows players to be more creative and show off their athleticism. Because everyone is trying to grow this sport across the country and world, implementing a dive would hopefully attract more eyes to the sport by creating more highlight reel plays. A crease dive goal in lacrosse would be the equivalent to a dunk in basketball or, a diving catch in football or baseball.

Shot Clock

There was a significant amount of controversy over this rule and how it was judged by the officials throughout the season. The rule stated that the player could not dive towards the goalmouth when diving to try and avoid injuring the goalie. This meant that the player diving would have to be diving away from the goal and not come in contact with the goalie. This led to a lot of discrepancy when it came time to decide who was in the wrong when the ball, the goalie, the defenseman, and the diver all ended up in a jumbled mess in the crease. Because NCAA rule changes happen every two years and stay for that time, we will have to endure another full season of the rule before and changes can be invoked.

The second rule that was implemented for the 2019 season was a shot clock. This is also currently utilized in the pro game and many people believed that it should also be in the college game. Many people thought that the college game was too slow as teams would be extremely methodical with their possessions and not be in a rush. This would sometimes turn into very boring games that would not have very many shots or goals. By adding a shot clock, the idea is to increase the pace of play and take more chances because you know that you are able to get the ball back after the shot clock hits zero instead of having to take it back for yourself. Overall, the addition of the shot clock was a positive for the game. It rewarded good defense for a certain period of time and also encouraged offenses to be dynamic in their attacks. This shot clock starts at 80 seconds the moment possession of the ball is turned over to the other time.

There is always controversy on new rule changes as some teams and coaches may benefit from the rules more than another. All in all, it will be interesting to see how year number two goes with these rule changes and if it sparks any new adaptations to the rules in the following year.