July 26, 2000

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee voted to use a 60-second shot clock for men's lacrosse games beginning in the 2001 season, as decided at its annual meeting July 16-20, in Manchester Village, Vermont.

"The shot clock rule and the related changes will simplify the game for fans and participants," said Joe Boylan, chair of the committee and director of athletics at Loyola College (Maryland). "These changes will create action in attacking and defending the goal, which is the most exciting part of the sport.

"The committee anticipates that schools will use the existing penalty clocks to administer the rules change from the scorer's table, so there will be no extra cost for equipment." With the change, the shot clock will be reset to 60 seconds after each shot, play-on and change of possession with the exception that it will be turned off during extra-man situations. All sideline horns will be eliminated, which will speed up play and eliminate dead-ball substitutions from the sideline. This change also eliminates the interruptions caused by a coach calling for a horn on a sideline out of bounds with no intention of making a substitution.

In a related change, the committee eliminated the stalling call, including the requirement that the leading team keep the ball in the goal-attack area in the last two minutes of regulation play. The committee's rationale in doing so was that teams can no longer stall

because they have to shoot within 60 seconds. A shot will be defined as a ball propelled toward the goal by an offensive player in an attempt to score, either by being thrown from a crosse, kicked or otherwise physically directed. The only change from the previous definition is the addition of the phrase "in an attempt to score." The committee eliminated the 10-second count in the offensive end but retained the 10-second count in the defensive end.

"The Committee looks forward to working with the men's lacrosse community during the fall to resolve issues of concern so that implementing these changes will lead to a smooth regular season in the spring," Boylan said.

The committee's main point of emphasis for the coming season will be that late hits and body checks from the rear need to be adjudicated more closely. Any illegal body check from the rear should be penalized as such, not as a 30-second push.

The committee also made the following other rules changes:

Extended the play-on technique to include loose ball-infractions at the mid-line as well as the defensive-area lines and outlet passes from the goalie that are not initially caught by the fouled player. Under the old rule, play would have been stopped in these instances.

Prohibited any players serving a penalty during a man-down face-off from entering the field until an official signifies possession. Before the change, such players were allowed to enter the field as soon as the penalty time expired. The committee made the change because of safety concerns and to assist the officials' control of the game.

Changed the game-opening coin toss so that the team that wins the toss gets choice of field and the team that loses the toss gets the first alternate possession of the game. The team winning the coin flip got both choices in the past.