Player's Guide to Lacrosse Canada Men's Field Lacrosse U7 to Senior 2025-27

Ten players make a full team: 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 attackers. Each team must have a properly equipped goalkeeper on the field at all times. If injuries or penalties leave a team short, it plays on with fewer than 10 players.

The field is 91.4 m to 100 m (100 to 109 yards) long between end lines and 50 m to 60 m (55 to 66 yards) wide. Each goal is 1.83 m (6 ft) wide and 1.83 m high, set 12 m from the end line, with a goal crease of 3 m radius around it. The ball is white or orange rubber, 19.69 to 20.32 cm in circumference and 141.75 to 148.83 g.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 1, 2, 3, 14 and 19.

Under the World Lacrosse rules, every player must wear protective gloves (fingers fully inside the glove), suitable boots or shoes, a lacrosse helmet with a facemask and a properly fastened chinstrap, and a mouth guard that covers all upper teeth. Lacrosse Canada's field lacrosse page also lists shoulder pads among the required protective gear.

A designated goalkeeper must also wear a field lacrosse helmet, throat guard, chest protector and box/cup.

Each player wears a jersey with a contrasting number on the front (at least 20.3 cm high) and back (at least 25.4 cm high), from 00 to 99, with no duplicate numbers on a team. Jewellery and body piercings are not allowed, apart from a medical alert or religious item that is securely taped. Helmet or body-mounted cameras are banned.

If a player in a scrimmage area loses or lacks any required equipment, play is stopped.

Sources: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 17 and 18; https://lacrosse.ca/field-lacrosse/

Lacrosse Canada's equipment regulations allow one of these helmet set-ups:

• a NOCSAE-approved field lacrosse helmet
• a CSA-approved hockey helmet with a CSA-approved hockey facemask
• a CSA-approved hockey helmet with a CSA-approved lacrosse facemask

Approved CSA lacrosse facemasks (Jr. and Sr.) are Under Armour UA V96, Under Armour CLA Mask, Marty O'Neill MX-13, OTNY, Gait G7 and Warrior Fatboy.

Goalkeeper gear is sized by height, not age category, with adjustable straps for a secure fit. If standard gear is too large, a goalkeeper may size down without approval. If standard gear does not fit safely, a goalkeeper can submit a Goalkeeper Equipment Exemption Form (height measurements and photos) to the Lacrosse Canada Safety & Equipment Review Committee by May 31 each year. There is no appeal against an exemption decision, and an approved exemption must be carried at all games.

Source: Lacrosse Canada Equipment Regulations, https://lacrosse.ca/development/athletes/equipment-regulations/

A stick is either a short stick, 101.6 cm to 106.68 cm (40 to 42 in) long, or a long stick, 132.08 cm to 182.88 cm (52 to 72 in) long. The head must measure 15.24 cm to 25.4 cm (6 to 10 in) inside at its widest point. A team may have no more than four long sticks on the field at once when the ball is live, not counting the goalkeeper's stick.

The goalkeeper's stick may be 101.6 cm to 182.88 cm (40 to 72 in) long with a head of up to 38.1 cm (15 in) inside at its widest point.

Adjustable-length shafts are illegal, strings may hang no more than 5.08 cm (2 in), and the butt end of the shaft must be solid or covered, with no metal caps. Sagging pockets, sticks designed to withhold the ball and tampered sticks are prohibited.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 15 and 16.

A game has 4 periods of 15 minutes. Teams change ends after each quarter. The interval is 2 minutes between the first and second quarters and between the third and fourth, and 10 minutes at half-time.

The game clock and penalty clocks stop after a goal, and whenever the ball becomes dead in the last 30 seconds of the first, second and third quarters, and in the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter and any overtime.

If the score is tied after regulation, there is a 2-minute break and then 4-minute sudden victory overtime periods, with a 2-minute break between periods. The first goal wins. Overtime periods start with a face-off and the teams change ends between them.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 29 and 31. Lacrosse Canada's field lacrosse page also describes four quarters, typically 15 minutes, with some variation between leagues.

Body-checking is permitted when the opponent has the ball, or is within 2.74 m (3 yards) of a loose ball or of a ball in flight. The contact must be from the front or side, not below the hip and below the neck.

It is illegal to body-check an opponent who does not meet those conditions, to make an avoidable body-check after the opponent has thrown the ball, or to make initial contact from the rear, below the hips, or at or above the neck. Arms used in a body-check must stay below the opponent's shoulders with both hands holding the stick. Spearing (blocking with the head) and body-checking a player on the ground or down on one or both knees are also illegal. An illegal body-check is a major foul.

You may check an opponent's stick with your stick under the same ball-possession conditions.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 41, 42 and 70.

• Minor foul: if the offending team has the ball or it is loose, the ball goes to the opponents where it was. If the opponents had the ball, the offender is suspended for 30 seconds.
• Major foul: suspension for 1, 2 or 3 minutes depending on the officials' view of the severity and intention of the foul. The ball normally goes to the team that was fouled. Slashing, cross-checking, tripping, illegal body-checks, unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct are major fouls.
• Fouling out: a player who commits 5 major fouls is fouled out and cannot take further part in the game.
• Expulsion foul: suspension for the rest of the game. The team's In-home serves 3 minutes plus any other penalty time the expelled player had incurred, and a substitution is allowed once that time has elapsed.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 50, 68, 70-76 and 77.

While the ball is live and a team has no more than 10 players on the field (including players in the penalty box), it is offside if it has:

• more than 6 players in its attack half (between the centreline and the end line), or
• more than 7 players in its defensive half.

When 4 or more players from one team are in the penalty box at the same time, that team must keep 3 players in its attack half and the rest in its defensive half at all times.

If only one team is offside, it receives a minor foul. If both teams are offside, they are placed onside and play restarts with the team that had possession (or a face-off at the ball's position if neither had it).

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rule 65.

The World Lacrosse 2025-2027 men's rules require two visible shot clocks counting down from 80 seconds, with the rule taking effect on January 1, 2026.

• The clock starts or resets to 80 seconds when possession is gained after a face-off and on a change of possession.
• A shot taken above the goal line extended that hits the goalkeeper or their equipment while in the crease, hits the goal pipe or scores resets the clock.
• A shot that hits a defending player other than the goalkeeper in the crease does not reset it unless it scores.
• A ball thrown from behind the goal line extended is a pass and does not reset the clock unless it scores.
• If the clock expires without a qualifying shot, the ball goes to the defending team.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rule 43. Each national governing body may vary the rules for its own competitions, so a Lacrosse Canada competition may differ.

A team may have up to 12 substitutes, and only 22 players in a squad may dress in team uniform for a game.

Substitution can happen at any time, on the fly, through the gate in the special substitution area (a 13 m stretch of sideline). The substitute waits in the area until the player being replaced has left the field, and only then steps on. The offside rule still applies.

Anywhere along the sideline (not just the gate) is allowed after a goal, at the end of a period and during any time-out, as long as the team has the right number of players on the field when play restarts.

Source: World Lacrosse Men's Field Rules 2025-2027, Rules 20 and 46.