Lacrosse shot clock has arrived: How will it affect HS game?

The shot clock is finally here for New York high school lacrosse, and coaches and players across Long Island are preparing for the sweeping effects the sport will experience as a result.

A January 2024 ruling by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) allowed any section to begin the process of adding a shot clock to boys and girls lacrosse games on a two-year experimental basis. The spring 2025 season is the first to feature the change.

The shot clock will last 60 seconds for boys lacrosse, beginning when the ball reaches the offensive goal box area. For girls lacrosse, the shot clock lasts 90 seconds beginning from possession.

“I think it makes the game a lot faster and we really can’t take any possession for granted,” Massapequa junior attack Savanna Appleton said. “We have to value every one.”

The time restraint, albeit with different terms, already exists on the college level. St. Anthony’s Darcy Messina is one of many coaches who point to the inclusion of the shot clock in high school as a way for younger athletes to be better prepared for the college game.

“It’s a great opportunity for our girls,” Messina said. “We’re grateful that we have this so that when they do get to college, they’re not going to be essentially blown out of the water with the speed and the new rules, right? Because they’ve been comfortable with it from a high school standpoint.”

Quit stalling!

How do coaches think the shot clock will impact the game? Look no further than the 2024 Long Island Class C boys championship game.

Bayport-Blue Point sealed its 9-7 win by holding the ball for more than six straight minutes in the fourth quarter, leaving Wantagh with only 11.8 seconds. The game’s pace slowed to a crawl as penalties and quick passing took hold.

It was a perfect execution of stalling that Bayport-Blue Point girls lacrosse coach Ryan Gick — who attended that game — is excited to see high school lacrosse move away from.

“I think the game is significantly better for it,” Gick said. “I think we’ve needed it for a much longer time than it’s taken us to get it.”

Massapequa girls lacrosse coach Brendan Gaghan added: “It’s the lacrosse everyone wants to see. It’s a lot of fun. Nerve-racking as a coach because you don’t want to give up 14-15 goals a game, but I think they love it”

Another example of stalling occurred in Garden City’s 6-5 loss to Manhasset in a Nassau Class B boys semifinal last year. 

“I really like the shot clock. I feel like last year, the shot clock [would’ve] played a big part,” Garden City senior defenseman Luke LeSueur said. “They had like five, six-minute possessions and I feel like that’s just crazy for high school lacrosse.”

More faceoff opportunities

Teams should experience more offensive possessions, which figures to lead to more goals being scored. That results in more faceoff opportunities for the increasingly popular faceoff and draw control specialists.

“Not every team is fortunate to have a guy that works at facing off,” Wantagh boys coach James Polo said. “Now those teams are going to get that extra possession that maybe they didn’t get because a team was eating the clock and not going to goal, and now they’re forced to.”

Both Polo and Rocky Point boys lacrosse coach Thomas Walsh acknowledged the advantage that faster-paced teams will get, though Walsh said he doesn’t think much will change in terms of the importance at the X.

“If you’re going in with a better faceoff guy — before the shot clock and after the shot clock — I think it’s the same types of concepts and mentalities,” Walsh said.

More goals, more problems?

The lack of stalling could also lead to more lopsided results when top-tier programs match up with rebuilding or less-established schools.

“I was quite worried, because my team is not one of the premier teams in Nassau county,” Glen Cove boys lacrosse coach Steve Tripp said. “. . . I knew other coaches weren’t trying to run the score up. But we talked afterward and I asked, ‘What’s going to happen next year when the shot clock is here and your guys aren’t taking a minute off the clock before going to goal?’ ”

Tripp, who has coached Glen Cove since 1986, said Nassau’s decision to expand its Power League, an ability-based conference that debuted in 2024, from nine teams to 16 teams should “alleviate the blowouts” and his concerns.

“The only place that I see that it’s going to have — to me, a negative effect — is on penalties,” Tripp said. “If you have a 60-second shot clock and a 60-second penalty, we could potentially lose the ball because we didn’t get a shot-on-goal off and now the penalty is over.”

Suffolk boys or girls lacrosse don’t have such a conference, but neither Walsh and Gick are too concerned.

“We got a great group of coaches in Suffolk County that won’t run the score up,” Walsh said. “But what I like about it . . . your second-line guys deserve just as much a chance to go to goal as anyone else. The shot clock allows those guys to just play the game.”

“Anytime we’re in that situation, I tend to have a conversation with the other coach,” Gick said. “We’re not trying to insult anybody, but we also understand they’re trying to get better just like we are . . . I think coaches need to have those conversations, whether there’s a shot clock or not, on what’s best for the players on both teams.”

Operating smoothly? 

Tripp also shared concerns with having enough personnel at smaller schools to capably operate the shot clock.

“That’s where I think the referees are going to have to step in and do something,” Tripp said. “Because having some 16-year-old trying to do the shot clock, I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Tripp did call it “encouraging” that Nassau coaches and some shot clock operators met with referees at the county’s annual coaches’ meeting in February to discuss the new shot clock changes.

The hope is to smooth any small issues over for a better paved future for one of Long Island’s most successful sports.

“You roll something out, there’s going to be issues and a learning curve,” Gick said. “But I think the game is better for it either way, so we’re going to deal with those things as it comes.”

Polo added, “We know that this year there are going to be growing pains. We’ve got high-level lacrosse players on Long Island and New York State, and to get them ready to excel on the next level, that’s a great thing to be a part of.”

With Jolie Katzen and Owen O’Brien