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Changes to the Draw Rule in Girls Lacrosse

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
by Megan Schneider | LaxMagazine.com | Twitter | Schneider Archive SPARKS, Md. – When one of the top draw specialists in the game set the all-time NCAA Division I career draw record as a senior at Northwestern in 2014, she made it look easy. But Alyssa Leonard, now a USC assistant, Team USA standout and member of the first-ever professional women’s championship team, the Long Island Sound, didn’t specialize in the craft until she stepped foot in Evanston, Ill. “I just threw the ball up in the air for the most part when I was in high school,” said Leonard. “I couldn’t have told you what the techniques were called or the difference between pushing and pulling. I couldn’t really tell you specifics until I got to college and really learned it and worked on it.” But she predicts a new era of draw specialists could be coming to the NCAA after US Lacrosse announced Tuesday a significant change to the draw in the most recent wave of rule revisions for high school girls’ lacrosse, recognizing the increased focus on the position, the boost in speed and growth of the game, and greater scrutiny on player safety. “There’s been a push to learn how to take draws and how to be better at them,” said Leonard. “More and more, the draw becomes so important. If you can find a way to make it easy on yourself, I think people are going to go for it.” Effective for the 2017 high school girls’ season, players below both restraining lines during the draw can no longer cross into the middle third of the field until possession has been won by one of the six players (three per team) in or on the circle. This rule will eliminate the scrum in the center circle where numerous players would fight for the ball, either in the air or on the ground, in close proximity of each other. Please read the rest of the article here

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