The NCAA News - News & Features

(OFF)SIDE STEP

Elimination of offside rule frees up scoring opportunities in field hockey

BY MARTY BENSON
NCAA Staff Writer

In many sports -- football, for example -- scrapping the offside rule would create havoc. In others, however, that decision could make play more exciting.

This past summer, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) scrapped that sport's version of an offside restriction with the hope of giving the game a boost.

In the past, a player was offside if the ball was passed or played to her by a teammate and she was inside the opponent's 25-yard area, in front of the ball and nearer the back line than two opposing players.

Now the offense has more freedom, which should translate into more scoring chances and fewer stoppages of play.

"We had been experimenting with it for the past few years and some European countries experimented with it last year," said Jane Hansen, rules committee chair of the United States Field Hockey Association. "We found that (the change) forces the defender to move with the attacker, so the attacker can pull the defender away from the goal area, which clears a space. It's safer because there are fewer people in a congested area (in front of the goal)."

Hansen said creating that freedom is the game's most significant change since 1992, when the interpretation of the obstruction rule was liberalized.

This year's change was made mainly to cater to fans in Europe, where games frequently are televised. While such attention is, at best, a distant hope of the NCAA Field Hockey Committee, making the game generally attractive to fans is a consistent concern.

The committee, which uses FIH rules for NCAA play but can modify them, gave no-offside play a try during the seven-on-seven overtimes that it instituted last year. This year, it has embraced the rule's elimination.

"I can't say whether it has actually created more goals because there haven't been enough games, but what the fan will appreciate is that it has created fewer whistles," said Cristy A. Freese, committee chair and coach at Central Michigan University.

Higher scoring indicated

No official national team statistics are kept. But for what it is worth, national Division I goals-against numbers tabulated by the Atlantic 10 Conference staff indicate that scoring may have increased slightly through September 24, compared to the same time period last year.

The combined goals-against average of the top 20 goalkeepers at that level was 1.12 in 1996, compared to .986 last season. In addition, goals-scored numbers among the top 20 individual scorers were 1.27 this year vs. 1.17 in 1995.

The offside rule existed to prevent offensive players from "cherry-picking" or hanging back by their goal, waiting for a long pass and an easy score. Nothing in the rules book prevents that now, but doing so carries its own inherent penalty, since players who hang back essentially remove themselves from game action for extended periods of time.

Actually getting the ball to those players is not as easy as it sounds, and if a defense lets that happen, it may deserve the result.

"The other team is not in good position if you can hit the ball 25 yards to someone else," Freese said. "It just can't be done in one big swoop."

Freese added that a team with that rare player who can lift the ball 30 or 40 yards has a great advantage, since a pass can go over the defense instead of through it. Moving the ball a great distance on the ground, especially a natural surface, is more difficult.

Coaches say they already have directed their offenses to adjust, but are still examining options on the other side of the ball.

"It's going to take defenses a while to figure out what to do," said Kathy Krannebitter, coach at Division II West Chester University of Pennsylvania and NCAA rules-modifications interpreter. "It's lengthened both the depth and the width of the field. The better teams are attacking the deep space of the field already."

Creating a bigger field

One of those teams is defending Division I champion University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Always aggressive offensively, the Tar Heels have shifted up a gear.

"We value the lead run (getting the ball to a player upfield in transition) a little bit more," said coach Karen Shelton-Scroggs. "We're always looking to have a threat for a through pass. We try to create a bigger field."

The North Carolina coach said eliminating the offside call increases the likelihood of tip-in goals. Defensive players used to be able to "push" offensive players away from the goal merely by positioning themselves to draw an offside call.

For similar reasons, penalty corners also are affected.

"As many offensive players as you want can rush to the (goal) post," said Wellesley College coach Sue Landau, "so the defenders have to be concerned with guarding more players.

"We scored on three corners in our first game and I don't remember us scoring that many in any of last year's games."

The change also has brought an end to the "lazy" tactic of trying to lure the offensive team offside rather than playing defense.

Keeping goalkeepers busy

All these factors make the goalkeeper's job more busy.

"She's got to be aware of more of the players on the other team than before," said Stacey Schilling, first-year coach at State University College at Cortland. "She's got to know if players are hanging behind her."

Krannebitter said goalies now may have to play shots that go wide, since an opposing player might be in position to redirect such a shot into the goal.

Some coaches have told their goalies to counter more active offenses with a similar philosophy.

"We want to be more aggressive with the 50-50 ball," Landau said. "Anytime the goalkeeper thinks she can get her foot on it, she needs to go for it."

One variable that will make NCAA games different from international games is that, since 1990, shots in NCAA games can come from 25 yards away. In the international game, a player still must be inside the 16-yard circle to shoot.

Freese said that after observing what happens this year, the committee will look closely at whether it wants to retain the 25-yard modification.

Meanwhile, everyone is going to be doing a lot more moving on the field, creating more scoring chances and more excitement. That was the goal all along.