Those Are The Rules

INSIDE LACROSSE STORY ON PROPOSED WOMEN'S RULES CHANGES 

The NCAA women's lacrosse rules committee seemingly recognized two realities in the sport:

1) the athletes are faster and stronger and shoot harder than they ever have before, and 
2) the games themselves were taking way too long to play

It's a tough position for a committee. You don't want to overhaul everything that has helped your sport grow, while at the same time you have to do something to move the pace of the game along. 

Women's lacrosse games in recent years have regularly run to nearly two hours and 30 minutes, or even longer. And why? 

The main culprit, ironically enough, has been the increased athleticism, which has led to greater goal-scoring numbers. It's made the game way more exciting, of course, though it needed some major fine-tuning. 

What does extra scoring bring? Yes, it results in many more draws at midfield. And that's been the No. 1 source of the extra time. 

It starts with the need to do a stick check after each goal. You've seen this if you've been watching. 

The player who scores has to immediately drop her stick, or, as it has evolved, slams her stick down as hard as possible in triumph. Then the officials have to confirm it's a legal stick, and only then do the teams head to midfield for the draw. 

This rule, by the way, came from overtime of an NCAA championship game a few years ago, when the goal was scored and all of the sticks flew in the air in celebration. The team that lost wanted to challenge the stick that scored the game-winner — though nobody could figure out which one it was. 

This week, the NCAA women's lacrosse rules committee announced that, among other proposals, the need to do a stick check should be eliminated. Also, teams would have 30 seconds to line up at midfield to be ready for the next draw or possession would be automatically given to the other team. 

There are other proposals as well, but that one is the one that should do the most to speed things up. This is from committee chair Amy Foster.

“At the Division I level in particular, there was concern about games consistently extending well beyond two hours. For media purposes, that window is important, but it is also important for just the enjoyment of the game. Changes in the penalty structure and penalty and game administration could positively impact both.” 

Foster, by the way, is a Senior Deputy Athletic Director at Cornell. It seems that both the men's and women's rules committee chairs are from the Ivy League. How about that? 

This was a non-change year for the men's committee but obviously a change year for the women. This proposal, and the others, really seem to be a move in the right direction. 

From here, by the way, the next step is to have the recommendations of the committee go to the NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel for its approval. 

While the subject today is women's lacrosse, TigerBlog would like to congratulate Princeton's coaches for being selected as the IWLCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year. As you hopefully recall, Princeton won the Ivy League championship and reached the NCAA quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion North Carolina. 

Princeton is led by head coach Jen Cook and her staff featuring Maggie Brown, Molly Dougherty, Kerrin Maurer and Ali Robinson.   

This is from the story on goprincetontigers.com:

Princeton's .800 winning percentage was No. 1 in the Ivy League and No. 5 nationally, and the Tigers were among the nation's cleanest teams in terms of possession with a national rank of No. 5 in clearing percentage (.939) and No. 3 in turnovers-per-game (11.1). No team in Ivy League history had a more prolific offensive season than the 2025 Tigers who scored an Ivy record 308 goals, led by a second-team All-American attacker in McKenzie Blake, who broke a 41-year old Ivy League record with 89 goals herself. She was one of three IWCLA All-America selections for Princeton this season, the first such honors during Cook and staff's tenure. Improvement has been the hallmark of this group as they have increased their win total each year, including a +5 improvement in victories this year from last.
Included this year was an 11-game winning streak, Princeton's longest in 21 years and eight wins against teams ranked in the Top-25.

Congrats to the Tiger coaches.

And to the NCAA women's lacrosse rules committee, who seemed to get it right with these proposed changes.