3 beats
- Beats
- Cut
- Pass
- Carry
- Double
- 5 yd stripes · not a marking
Zone defense
Backer Zone
Verified in part · checked against Limestone’s Scott Tucker, LaxPlaybook and Achieve Lacrosse
The play, beat by beat
- 1Right High Defender deniesBacker sags
- 2Their Top Left passes to their Left WingLeft High Defender denies
- 3Their Left Wing carriesBacker doubles the ball
Coaching points
- The backer floats along the 8 and doubles the ball; the zone makes them beat you with seven players, not one. There is always a 2-on-1 somewhere on the weak side.
- Tucker: pressure the ball high and shut off the weak-side pass. Hedge to let it go to the wing, then shut off every adjacent pass and force it down. Below the elbow the backer doubles from the side away from the on-ball defender.
- Backer and low defenders: you are on the 3-second clock in the 8, so step in and out of it or mark. Close the gap while the ball is in the air and lead with your stick.
- USA Lacrosse Magazine's writers credit Jack Kaley (NYIT men) with the backer; Stony Brook's Joe Spallina says only that it comes from the men's game.
- Option, the stay-home backer (Tucker): she stays put and doubles only once the ball is inside the 12. If the on-ball defender is beaten, the backer takes the 1 v 1.
How it was checked
A standard play the sources back, but a step or detail of it rests on a single source or on our own reading of them. Verified in part · checked against Limestone’s Scott Tucker, LaxPlaybook and Achieve Lacrosse.
