Midseason Updates

General Reminders for Coaches and Officials

JV Games. A standard JV game is 4 10-minute quarters, stopping the clock after every goal. We also stop the clock in the 2nd and 4th quarters for any fouls in the CSA in the last two minutes. Coaches can decide to have the clock run after goals, but that needs to be decided and agreed upon by both coaches at the pregame coaches/captains meeting. This is the coaches' decision, not the umpires. Also note that C Team games are 10 minute quarters, not stopping the clock after goals. 

PROFESSIONALISM. Both coaches and officials need to be actively working to make our game what it can be. 

Jewelry. Playing with jewelry is illegal. Players cannot have any piercings that are covered with tape or band-aids. Clear spacers are illegal as well. During the pre-game stick check we need to take a close look that each player is not wearing jewelry, has her goggles, and has a legal mouthpiece in addition to having a legal stick. 

Rules clarifications and points of emphasis for officials

Displacement. Displacing a player with their stick and/or body is a foul. If a defender has her arms already extended and makes legal contact on her opponent's body without displacing/hitting/jabbing/pushing, she cannot steer and displace her opponent using her legs to push her. So displacement is not only displacing with the arms and stick, but it is also displacing with her legs/body to steer/push her. 

Intentional Delay of Games. Officials, we need to be aware of teams potentially delaying games on purpose, especially during a free position set up in the CSA in the last 2 minutes of the 1st and 3rd quarter when there is still a running clock. Any attempt to purposely commit fouls in order to use up the clock is a foul.  The delay has to be obvious in order for us to call it. What I would recommend is if we see teams trying to delay, then manage that with a verbal warning. If players are continuing to delay, then you may escalate it with a green card for delay of game (carding procedures require that we stop the clock in that scenario), or a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. Delay is not limited to this specific scenario on CSA foul set ups. There could be delay as teams are in transition down midfield, when the defensive team is committing break down fouls to intentionally slow down the transition or take time off the clock. 

Substitutions. Please make sure players are subbing in and out through the substitution box. During live play, the player coming off the field needs to be completely off the field first before her sub can come onto the field. After goals, substitutions are imminent and players in the sub box do not have to wait. Furthermore when exchanging sticks, this needs to occur through the sub box area as well and needs to be directly handed off. Throwing the stick under any circumstance is a minor foul. 

Goal Circle Fouls. We need to all be clear on what the goalkeeper can and cannot legally do. If the goalie is in her GC and commits a GC foul or a minor foul, she may stay in her GC. If she is in her GC and commits a major foul, then we take her out and she goes 4m behind the FP.  Anytime a goalkeeper is completely out of her GC, she is now considered a field player and must abide by all field player rules. Therefore if she commits any major or minor foul when outside of her GC, she will go either 4m behind or 4m away from the FP. If there is an illegal deputy foul, this is the only scenario where the GC cannot return to her GC even though she did not foul (open net situation). Finally there is some confusion on when the ball can legally be returned to the goal circle. An easy way to look at this is to focus on where the BALL is when it is FIRST POSSESSED, not where the goalkeeper is when she gains possession of the ball. So if the ball is first possessed by any player completely outside of the GC, then the ball can immediately be returned to the GC. If the ball is first possessed in the GC and then leaves the GC, it needs to be 'played' before it can go back into the GC. 

Definition of 'Played': The ball is played in one of 2 possible ways. 1. Another player touches the ball   or 2. The ball carrier's crosse is actually physically checked by an opponent. There must be contact to her stick, even if the ball does not get fully dislodged. For each of these 2 options there is the possibility that the ball could be loose via a bad pass, or the ball gets dislodged from the ball carrier's stick, which would have given the opponent a chance to get the ball. So, once the ball has been 'played' it can be returned to the GC.

Example #1: GK makes a save and clears it to her teammate. Her teammate immediately passes the ball back to the GK in her GC. This is legal. The ball has been played by action of the ball being cleared and being caught by another player (her teammate). 

Example #2: GK is completely out of her GC and gains possession of the ball. She runs back into the GC with the ball, or throws the ball across the GC into  the back of the net. This is legal because possession of the ball was first gained outside the GC.

Example #3: GK makes a save in the GC and has possession of the ball. She runs out of the GC with the ball and is immediately pressured by an opponent. The opponent never makes an actual contact check on her crosse. Any attempted checks by that opponent that do not make contact do not count. If the GK immediately runs back into the GC, this is illegal because the ball was never 'played' per the definition.