With an early two-goal lead during Friday night’s season opener against Syracuse, Colgate couldn’t use its faceoff domination to a time of possession advantage. In the past, repeated faceoff wins coupled with long possessions could prevent comebacks.

Now, that can’t happen.

Sandwiched between an STX sign in one end zone and a Saab advertisement in the other, an 80-second shot clock forced Colgate to shoot. The Raiders’ bench screamed at the 15-second mark to warn the players on the field. But after the second shot of the possession went wide of the net, a Colgate attack rolled the ball out of bounds and the officials signaled the other way. It was one of three violations combined between the two teams in Syracuse’s first game with the shot clock.

The new rule, which enforces a visible 80 second shot clock in every NCAA men’s lacrosse game, was put in prior to the 2019 season. In practice, it’s rather simple, if a team shoots on net— posts and wide shots aren’t included — it’s granted a new 80 seconds to shoot again. Nationally, scoring per game is up for certain teams but with only one or two games as a sample size. Regardless, it’s another step toward fine tuning lacrosse’s rules as the sport’s popularity grows.

“I absolutely think it’s necessary,” said Ryan Powell, a recently hired program adviser at SU. “The game was turning to a place where it wasn’t fun to watch.”

When Powell played for Syracuse from 1997-2000, the Orange offense still relied heavily on a run-and-gun style and capitalized on odd-man opportunities in transition. With no limit to how long a team could hold the ball, possession became the best way to stop a high powered offense.

John Desko, currently in his 21st season as SU’s head coach, said the conversation for the shot clock intensified after the 2011 national quarterfinal. Syracuse lost 7-6 in game while Mayland won 11-of-14 faceoffs and was called for stalling 10 times.

In previous iterations of shot clock-related rules, stall warnings meant teams had to keep the ball in the restraining box — an area spanning from the end zone to the 30-yard line —  which limited space to hide from defenders.

In the 2013 season, a 30-second shot clock was enacted only if referees felt a team wasn’t making a clear attempt to score. But even that became unclear at times. Players and coaches didn’t have a separate clock to track the timer with. Teams also practiced shooting near the net but not on it, Desko said, often confusing officials. It led to an inconsistency that doesn’t exist in many other sports — referees could decide how fast offenses could play in any given game.

“It was inevitable to have a standardized shot clock,” said national lacrosse analyst Mark Dixon. “If for nothing else to make it easier for officials to officiate and fans to understand.”

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Coaches, players and analysts all agree that the addition of the shot clock appeals to fans in two important factors: It removes subjectivity from refs and promotes more fluid offense. It’s NCAA men’s lacrosse way of joining in on the increased focus surrounding offense and pace across many sports.

This season, the NBA added a new rule to reset the shot clock to 14 seconds after an offensive rebound. The NFL has repeatedly added rules to clamp down on defensive penalties and promote more scoring. In women’s lacrosse, the NCAA instilled a shot clock two seasons ago.

“It’s healthy for the game,” said ESPN lacrosse analyst Paul Carcaterra. “There’s a lot of offense in the past that would lull spectators to sleep.”

The shot clock is positioned somewhere behind the net, often where a play clock would be for football. The clock starts when possession is gained by the offense, which has 20 seconds to pass half field.

Desko said he doesn’t think the shot clock will affect his team as much as others due to the free-flowing nature of the offense. But after a full preseason of practice with the clock, players said they feel the game is faster.

During SU’s season opener Friday, passes before attacking the cage were limited. But on other possessions, like Colgate’s early in the first quarter, a lengthy clear and several failed attempts to drive on a defender can chew up more clock than expected.

“We get caught off guard,” said senior attack Brad Voigt prior to the season. “It’ll be like 10 seconds and we hear guys screaming from the sidelines. We’re like, ‘Oh, crap we actually have a shot clock instead of a one minute possession or two minute possession.’ It changes a lot.”

It’s far too early to tell what the tangible changes of the game will be. In Syracuse’s first game under the new rule, possessions didn’t drag but that didn’t translate to increased scoring. But for a sport that’s still adding teams across the country, the statistical results might not be what matters most. In lacrosse, rule changes have always been about growing the game so more people will be interested. The shot clock is no different.

Said Desko: “I’ll tell you right now it’s more fun for the players to play and more exciting for the fans to watch.”

– Asst. Sports Editor Nick Alvarez contributed reporting to this story.

Published on February 10, 2019 at 11:43 pm

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