The Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee during its annual meeting August 8-11 in Indianapolis proposed a slightly altered faceoff mechanism and added a slow whistle during foul situations. All proposals must be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel in September.

After changing the procedure last year to spread out the players facing off, the committee decided to eliminate the requirement that the referee audibly say "set" before blowing the whistle. There were numerous violations this season in the faceoff procedure and a large number were attributed to players anticipating the whistle.

"We believe we were putting our officials in a tough spot in some ways," said Willie Scroggs, chair of the committee and senior associate athletics director at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "The committee hopes this will improve the consistency and fairness of the faceoff."

The committee also talked about rules regarding timeouts, a primary topic of discussion last year as well. The committee mulled several options in this area, but decided the change last year to require the team calling the timeout to have possession in the attack zone met the intended objectives.

"We wanted to make the timeout call easier for officials and we wanted to make sure the team calling the timeout had clear possession of the ball," Scroggs said. "We discussed many options and ideas. In the end, we feel our rule accomplishes what we are looking for."

In other action, the committee implemented a rule that had been an experimental provision last year. During a situation in which a flag is down for a foul, the non-offending team will be allowed to establish possession in the attack area and attempt to score. To ward off more fouling by the team with the delayed penalty, the committee noted that, in this situation, any additional foul against that team will be time-serving.

"We had favorable feedback from last year with this rule and really feel like it will add an exciting feature to our game," Scroggs said. "This gives the offensive team a real advantage and encourages action around the goal."

Committee members also discussed the dimensions of the stick and crosse. With the innovations over the past few decades, the committee feels more specific dimensions are necessary to keep the equipment in line with the traditions of the game. The committee passed several new measurements that will go into effect starting with the 2008 season to give manufacturers and institutions time to adjust to the more stringent standards.

A full listing of the committee's changes, once approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, will be sent to each institution and posted on the NCAA Web site.

In other rules changes, the committee:

• Altered a rule concerning when a player crosses the center line to be consistent with all other lines on the field. Now, if a player touches the center line with his foot, he is considered to be across the center line.

• Passed an experimental rule for the fall season with an eye on a potential change for 2006-07. In the experimental rule, a team has 30 seconds from the time possession is gained to advance the ball into the attack area. The team must keep the ball in the attack area and substitutions may only be made until the ball enters the attack area. "The committee is looking to speed up the game and create more action," Scroggs said. "We also feel like substitution patterns may be getting to be too much of our game, and we believe that speeding up that process would be a positive step." In this experiment, the committee also asks that teams move the attack area line five yards closer to the midline to increase the amount of offensive space.

• Modified an approved ruling dealing with the tripping rule to include the words "stumble or fall" in the explanation. The committee believes officials should call tripping regardless of whether the player falls to the ground. "If a player is impeded significantly by a defending player, tripping should be called," Scroggs said. "We hope this brings attention to this and gives officials the ability to call it."

• Reworded the stalling rules to more accurately reflect when this provision should be used.