How do the rules protect girls from sticks near the head?

Under the World Lacrosse Women's Field rules (2025-2026), used for girls' and women's lacrosse in England:

• Check to the head is a mandatory-card foul: a player must not strike an opponent on the head with her stick.
• Dangerous check: players must not check an opponent's stick within a stick's width of the head (about 18 cm, or the width of the shoulders). Checks must be controlled and directed away from the head and neck, and must not send the ball towards an opponent's face or force her stick into her body.
• A player must not hold her stick within a stick's width of an opponent's head or neck, or poke or wave it towards an opponent's face.
• Dangerous follow-through and dangerous propel (passing or shooting without regard to other players' positions) are also mandatory-card fouls.
• Dangerous shots, judged on distance, force and placement, usually at the goalkeeper, are penalised.

Field players in the women's game do not wear helmets with face masks, so England Lacrosse's protective eyewear requirement (from 1 September 2026) applies to them whenever a hard ball is used.