Air Gait: a move invented by lacrosse legend Gary Gait while in college at Syracuse University in the 1980's. Gait would literally dive from the rear of the crease upward and out over the goal side while slapping the ball into thegoal one-handed. The move was made illegal very soon after. It was said that goalie safety was the reason. Many still think it was because only Gait could do it.
Ankle breaker: Slang for an extremely quick turn or split dodge.
All Right (All Left): term for a player who has a dramatically dominant hand.
Alley: area created between the side of the restraining box and the sideline.
Around The World: like a behind the back shot except the stick is wrapped around the opposite directon and the shotcomes from over the shoulder of the shooting hand.
Assist: a pass to the shooter. A pass that sets up a goal. Coaches like these.
Backbreaker: a trick shot where the stick is held by both hands above the head and the ball is shot underhand andbehind the back AND between the legs. See Picture 1.
Back Door: an offensive player without the ball sneaks in, close to the goal behind the defense, where the ball carrierzips a pass to him or her for an easy score.
Backup (Back up the goal): an offensive player close to the endline and ready to run full speed toward the line toregain the possession of the ball on a missed shot. The man closest to the ball on as it goes out of bounds gets theball back, so never shoot unless you know you can score OR you have a good backup.
Bag: slang for a pocket, usually a very deep one.
Baggataway: Ojibwe word for lacrosse (derived from an Algonquian verb meaning "to hit with [something]"), and more particularly the Midwestern/Great Lakes variant of the game. Alternate spelling (preferred by ethnographers) is baaga'adowe.
Bake: molding the empty stick head to a custom shape in any number of ways.
Baked: a player whose head is not in the game.
Ball: term used by a player to another player to let him know that he will gather the ground ball while his teammate takes a man, shouting "Man" and keeping the opponent away from the ball until his team has possession. Once the ball is in possession, "Release" is yelled to stop the aggression of the player taking the man to avoid a moving pick.
Ball Dog: a dog that chases balls for you when you miss the goal.
Ball Hunt: players in the tall grass or woods behind the goal looking for balls using their sticks like scythes.
Baller: slang for an extremely good lacrosse player
Baltimore Crab: a method of picking up a ball by rolling the top inside of the scoop over the ball, starting it moving in that direction, while turning the head under the ball quickly to collect it in one motion. Also called the Indian Pick-up, because the early Iroquois versions or the Huron, Cherokee and Choctaw versions of the game featured sticks with no scoops.
Bait (Bait the Shooter): the goal keeper intentionally tries to influence the shooter's shot selection by "underprotecting" one side of the goal and showing an open net. This allows the goal keeper to anticipate the ball flight and move early to make the "easy" save.
Big stick: a defenseman. or slang for the defensive stick. Also see long pole.
Black Hole: slang for a teammate who never gives the ball up once he has it. A ball hog.
Bounce Shot: a shot on goal that is targeted downward and bounces before the goal line.
Box: the penalty box, where time assessed for fouls is served.
Box Lacrosse: the indoor version of the game played predominantly in Canada. A much more physical game which is encased with walls that can be used to check a ball carrier into.
Break: an extra man situation temporarily cause by a quick steal or great outlet pass from the defensive end. The offense uses the extra man to split the defense so that the ball coming quickly down the field can find an easy path from undefended player to undefended player until a very high percentage shot is taken.
Broken: to be scored on directly off of the face-off.
Bucket: a really deep pocket or good goalie pocket. Also slang for a helmet.
Bullet: the ball. or slang for a hard shot or pass.
Cage: the goal
Canadian egg roll: a shot where the ball is caught and in one downward motion shoots behind the shooter. The ball is released near the knees and is usually performed when on the crease with the shooter's back to the goalie.
Carry the Pizza: when a player runs down the field carrying the ball in their stick way out in front of them in one hand with their arm extended, and holding the bottom of the shaft. This keeps the ball in the head of the stick without needing to cradle or worry about what's behind you, sorta. Also known as Walking the Dog.
Cheap it (Cheap the ball): clearing the ball from the defensive end with a long random pass into the offensive end.
Check: an attempt to dislodge the ball from another player's stick by poking or slapping their stick or arms with either end of your stick, though most often the head.
Check Up: term shouted by goalkeepers to begin a defensive practice of claiming who each defensive player is assigned to.
Cooker: slang term for the goal. “Take it to the cooker”.
Copter: slang for a stick checked out of one's hands so that it flies into the air spinning like a helicopter rotor.
Crank: a hard shot accentuated by an extended wind up by a stationary shooter or full extension of the shot by a sprinting shooter.
Crease: the 9 foot (men's) or 8.5 foot (women's) radius circle that surrounds each goal. Offensive players are not allowed in the crease.
Crosse: proper name for a stick. From the French word "Crossier" or curved staff. Refers to the head and shaft together or more appropriately to the one piece wooden stick used before 1970 and still used by some box players and Native Americans, who, of course, invented them.
D-Up: recognizing and taking a man defensively. Yelled by the Goalkeeper to his defensive unit after an unsettled situation.
D-pole: the crosse used by defense.
De- stick: to check a player resulting in his or her losing possession of the ball and their stick.
Dodge: any move that gets a ball carrier by a defender. 2:: evading and passing a defender while driving with the ball.
D.O.F: Accronym for the statistical reporting of how many "Dogs On Field" for a particular lacrosse game. This lacrosse-only statistic was kept by some Baltimore referees for years and was printed unwittingly in the Baltimore newspapers with the rest of the called-in high school and college game stats for years.
Dye Job: A stick head which has had the color changed by dying. See Dye.
Egg: a soft shot.
5 hole (five hole): a shot that gets to the goal taking a path between the legs of the goalkeeper.
Face Dodge: while running at the defenseman, just before any contact, the stick is brought around the face to the side of the body while the feet pivot the same way and a burst of speed loses the defender. Works best with a lunging defender.
Fast Break: an extra man situation temporarily cause by a quick steal or great outlet pass from the defensive end. The offense uses the extra man to split the defense so that the ball coming quickly down the field can find an easy path from undefended player to undefended player until a very high percentage shot is taken.
Feed: a pass that finds a teammate cutting to the goal. An assist.
Fish: slang and derogatory term for a bad defenseman.
Flag: the yellow cloth the referee likes to throw.
Frozen Rope: a very hard shot which doesn't deviate in strenth or direction from stick to net. See Lazer or Rope.
Frying pan: a player who's not a good cradler and just runs down the floor/field like their carrying a frying pan.
Garbage Goal: a goal that is most often easily scored on the crease as a result of the ball becoming loose in the crease area after a shot rebounds off the goalkeeper.
Gilman (Gilman the ball): clearing the ball from the defensive end with a long random pass into the offensive end.
Gobble (Gobble up): to take a ground ball quickly and expertly.
Goose (Goose it): slang for a flipping the ball from the ground to a teammate.
Gumball: a shot that goes directly into the keeper's stick.
Hack: a skill-less player that tries to hurt people with checks or just checks randomly instead of pointedly.
Hang: leaving the stick head exposed behind the body on a shot or the butt exposed behind the body when running with the ball.
Head on a Swivel: a defensive term for keeping aware of everything around you. Peripheral vision is important for a sliding defender in order to cover all potential cutters or passes and see the whole field.
Helicopter: slang for a stick checked out of one's hands so that it flies into the air spinning like a helicopter rotor.
Help: Used to alert a teammate that you are open and able to receive a pass, “Here’s your Help!”
Hole (the hole): area within 5 yards of a player's defensive crease. It is important in a transition situation from offense to defense that players get to "the hole", find their man coming toward the goal and pick him up.
Hoover: A player that is especially good at getting ground balls all the time.
Hot: defenseman responsible for the first slide. Used by defenses to communicate.
Hug the Pipe: a goalkeeper allows no space between his body and the goal post closest to the shooter.
Indian Pick-up: a method of picking up a ball by rolling the top inside of the scoop over the ball, starting it moving in that direction, while turning the head under the ball quickly to collect it in one motion. The name comes from watching early Iroquois versions or the Huron, Cherokee and Choctaw versions of the game where this is the only way topick up the ball because the sticks have no scoops. Also called the Baltimore Crab in the preppier circle, it's called cupping by many Native Americans.
Juke: slang for a pump fake close in to the goalkeeper that makes him move, opening the opportunity for a better shot.
Keep: Goal Keeper.
LSM: acronym for Long Stick Midfielder.
Laxaholic: Someone who loves all aspects of lacrosse and cannot get enough.
Laxer: slang for lacrosse player.
Laxed out: Condition, usually induced from too much lacrosse, in which a person wants nothing to do with lacrosse for a period of time.
Laxhead: someone who devotes all their time and life to the great sport of Lacrosse.
Lax Rat: slang for a kid that is never seen without a stick in his / her hand, goes to all the local college and high school games and wears mostly lacrosse apparel.
Lazer: a very hard shot which doesn't deviate in strenth or direction from stick to net.
Line Drill: practice drill where two lines of players are formed about 30 yards from each other. A player from one line run to the other line passing the ball to a player from the other line who will end up passing to the next player and switching lines as well. Players usually find these boring.
Lift Check: a check where the defender settles his stick under the arm or stick of the ball carrier and lifts until they lose control or have to adjust allowing another check.
Liquid drill: water break on a hot day.
Longpole: a defenseman. or slang for the defensive stick.
Lumberjack: a player that hacks unsuccessfully at opponents with a chopping motion as they run down the field .
Man ("Man"): any opposing player to be covered (ie. my man, your man). 2: \ term \ used by a player to another player to let him know that he will keep the opponent away from the ball until his counterpart has possession. The teammate shouts "Ball" and takes up the ground ball and shouts "Release" to let the other know to stop taking the "man".
Man Ball ("Man- Ball Situation"): when two teammates approach a ground ball along with one opponent the one closest to the opponent will yell "Man" and engage the opponent head on to keep them away while the other yells "Ball and gets the ball. The rules say that a player on a team with the ball cannot hit someone so after gaining possession the ball carrier immediately yells "Release" turning off the aggression by the teammate and they both go on offense with the ball.
Man Down D (Man Down Defense): a unit that practices and has speific plans for defending the goal with one or more players out of the game with penalties.
Man to Man (Man to Man Defense): a defensive scheme where the defending players stick to a specific man rather than an area of the field. Also called Man on Man or Man D.
Man Up (Man Up Offense): slang for Extra Man Offense. Offensive scheme geared toward taking advantage of man-up situations after penalties on opposing players. 2: The group of players assigned to play in extra man situations.
Mary Gait: slang for a flashy player that screws up while showboating
Middie: slang for a Midfielder.
"Middie Back": Call made by a coach, attackman or defenseman to remind a middie to stay in the defensive half to avoid an offside penalty call when another long stick defensive player is clearing the ball and the chance of a fast break exists. A midfielder should stay behind the mid-line yelling "I'm Staying!" or "I'm back!" and raising his stick to be seen by the officials and letting the ball carrier know he can cross the mid line safely.
Naked: when a player is very open for a pass or uncovered by a defender. See Wide Open.
No Threat Line: an imaginary line across the face of the goal extended to the sideline. A reference for defenders to know that a player is behind the goal and is not a shooting threat. In some defensive packages an offensive player behind the goal will not be considered a threat and not truly defended with or without the ball (most likely a zone).
Number Up: Goalie command alerting defensemen to pick up a man. Often followed by defensemen calling the numbers of the man each is taking.
Offside (Offsides): rule that requires 3 players for each team are always on the offensive side of the midline and that each has 4 players on their defensive end.
On the Fly: making substitutions while the play is still on. Before this rule change in the 1980's teams would have to wait for a stop in play before making a player change and a horn would be blown to signify the change.
On the hop: Common lacrosse term used to signify that players are to move into huddles and drills with at least a brisk jog; no walking!
Phantom Check: the mysterious loss of ball control in the midst of a shot or pass.
Pill: the ball.
Pinwheel: slang for a stick checked out of one's hands so that it flies into the air spinning like a pinwheel. See also helicopter and copter.
Platoon: using two goalies in each game by design, splitting time usually in halves.
Playing catch with the goalie: shooting directly into the keeper's stick.
Play On: a loose ball penalty that is noticed by the referee but, if called immediately, would stop the advancement of the team that was fouled. A flag is thrown and the referee shouts "Play on" and continuation is allowed. At the next loose ball, turnover or score the whistle is blown and the penalty is assessed. If a goal were scored, it would count and the face off would ensue with the penalty in force.
Plunger: a Face-off move where you half clamp the ball (45 degrees) then keeping right hand on ground raise left hand and butt end of stick. This distorts the sidewalls of the head of the stick trapping the ball like a plunger. You can then drag the ball to an open area or even flip the ball over opponents stick for fastbreak.
Poke Check: a check where the defender literally pokes at the stick or arm of the ball carrier in order to dislodge the ball.
Point (the Point): the forward attack position on a fast break. This player splits his man with the man on the break who has the ball. He shouts "Point" or "I've got Point" and moves toward to restraining line and the ball to split men and is usually the first attackman to touch the ball on the break and usually has a great pass open to them on the crease as they receive the ball from the breaking man.
Pole: slang for a defenseman.
Popcorn: a shot put right into the goalies stick.
Push-ups: what players do in practice if caught mouthing off or goofing around.
Quickstick: catching the ball from a pass while in the shooting or passing motion or the moment before the forward thrust of the shot or pass.
Rail: two vertical strings in a custom pocket that allow the ball to ride smoothly out of the pocket.
Rake: using the backside of the stick to pull the ball back, then positioning the head in front of the ball as it rolls in. Not a good fundamental skill and will make Coach Miller angry.
Release ("Release"): term used by a player to let a teammate know to stop taking the "man" in a "man - ball situation". When two teammates approach a ground ball along with one opponent the one closest to the opponent will yell "Man" and engage the opponent head on to keep them away while the other yells "Ball and gets the ball. The rules say that a player on a team with the ball cannot hit someone so the "Release" call turns off the aggression by the teammate and they both go on offense with the ball.
Restraining Box: area in offensive end of the field marked by one solid like and two hashed lines. Offensive players can only allow the ball outside of the box for ten seconds (referee's count), and defensive players have ten seconds to clear the ball or get called with failure to advance, and once out the clearing team cannot bring the ball back in the box or receive the in and out infraction. Also used to "restrain" attack and defensive players during face offs until possession is whistled.
Ride: a play that is designed to stop the defensive unit of the team with the ball from "Clearing the ball" or moving it up field to their offensive end. 2: covering a defensive player in the attempt to prevent advancement to the offensive end.
Rock: the ball.
Rock Hunt: sending the team to roundup the balls after practice
Roll Dodge: a dodge around a defensive player where the ball carrier plants a foot in front of the defender and rollsto the outside without changing speed or losing the ball until he is beyond the defender and on his way.
Rope: a very hard shot which doesn't deviate in strenth or direction from stick to net.
Run Out: the sprint for the endline after a missed shot. The closest to the ball when it goes out of bounds on a shot gets the ball.
Scoop: bending the knees and lowering the stick to the ground to pick up the ball in one fluid forward running motion.
Shorthanded: slang for being man down due to penalties.
Shooter: a defensive call for the person likely to shoot the ball. Yelled when that person takes possession.
Sidewall: the string that runs down the sides of the stick head holding the mesh or strung pocket to the head.
Slap Check: a check where a player uses the head of his stick to slap an opposing player in the arm, hand, or stick to dislodge the ball.
Slow Whistle: a penalty with possession is noticed by the referee but, if called immediately, would stop the advancement of the ball carrier who was fouled. A flag is thrown and the continuation is allowed. At the next loose ball, turnover or score the whistle is blown and the penalty is assessed.
Split Dodge: a move similar to a crossover in basketball. While running one direction, a player with the ball quickly steps in the opposite direction and changes hands leaving the defender going the other way.
Squib: to kick the ball or knock the ball away from a huge pile of people to one of your teammates.
Stick Head: a lacrosse junkie.
Submarine: Underhand shot.
Swag: any item or gear that a player gets free while playing for a team.
Tadpole: slang for a youth defender who is dwarfed by his long defense stick.
Transition: when a team goes from offense to defense or from defense to offense.
Twig: slang for stick.
Unsettled Situation: usually diriving from an opponents mistake or a steal, the ball is in the offenses hands without a set defense. The goal in an unsettled situation is to find the open man in front of the goal
V-Cut: Running in at one angle, then immediate breaking back into another direction to receive the pass. The Path resembles the letter V.
Walking Turnover: a new player who seems to turn the ball over every time they touch the ball.
Wand: slang for stick
Ward: penalty called on a ball carrier while holding the stick with one hand, using or moving the other hand or arm to move, block or interfere with a defenders stick. A stationary arm in place can be held in position and block anything in it's path (see Paul Gait video clip) but the moment it changes it's position relative to the body while in contact with the opponent a Ward will be called.
Wet: describes a player who is on his game or in a "zone", hitting every shot.
Wheels: motivational yell to a player running down field with the ball that, loosely translated, means "you're running fast. Good Job. Run faster".
Withholding: a penalty called for keeping the ball from play. Holding the ball in the stick against your body or with your thumb is a withholding call, as well.
Wormburner: a shot that starts low and ends low, sneaking under the keeper's stick as he anticipates a bounce that never happens.
Worked: getting beaten by good footwork or speed. 2: to be beaten buy your man abundantly in a game.
X : the area on the field behind the goal or the player at that point who usually starts the play on offense.
Yard Sale: slang for when a ball carrier has the ball and stick completely knocked out of their hands by a check.
Yahtzee: See yardsale. Slang used throughout Long Island, NY.
Zebra: the referee.
Zone (Zone defense): defensive scheme where players are responsible for areas of the field rather than certain players.
