Most guides say lacrosse has four positions. That is like saying football has offense, defense and special teams — true, and it stops a long way short of what is actually happening in front of you on Saturday.
There are eight distinct jobs on a boys lacrosse field, and four of them live inside the word “midfielder.” They train differently, they get evaluated on different things, and most of them exist because of a single stick-length rule.
This is every one of them from a coach’s chair — with drills and video for each, so a player can actually go work on it.
The girls’ game has its own positions and its own article. Almost none of this carries across.
1. Sticks, and why they decide everything
Two lengths of stick exist in the boys’ game, and which one a player carries defines the job.
- The short stick — 40 to 42 inches. Attack and most midfielders.
- The long stick, or pole — 52 to 72 inches. Defense and the long-stick midfielder.
- The goalie stick — 40 to 72 inches, with a head 10 to 12 inches wide.
How to buy either one is covered in the beginner gear guide.
A team may have no more than four long sticks on the field at once, not counting the goalie. That single rule is why half the jobs below exist.
If a team puts a fifth pole on the field it is a 30-second illegal procedure penalty, and the player who committed it serves it in the box.
Long poles typically start around fifth grade — roughly the 10U level — and at that age the pole is shortened rather than full length. The rules guide covers which rulebook governs that at each age.
1.1 Every position at a glance
One line each. The rest of this page is the detail.
| Position | Stick | Where he plays | The job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Short, 40–42 in | Offensive end, three of them | Score and feed. Usually the best pure stick handlers on the roster |
| X attackman | Short, 40–42 in | Directly behind the goal | Runs the offense — he sees the whole defense set up in front of him |
| Two-way midfielder | Short, 40–42 in | Both ends, without leaving the field | Dodge, shoot, catch and cover. The highest conditioning demand in the sport |
| Offensive midfielder | Short, 40–42 in | Up top and the wings, on offensive sets | Dodge from up top, shoot from range, go off on the change |
| SSDM short-stick defensive midfielder |
Short, 40–42 in | Defensive end, on a settled possession | Cover a midfielder with a short stick. The most-targeted matchup on the field, by design |
| FOGO face off, get off |
Short, 40–42 in | The faceoff, then off | Win possession at the whistle and come off once it is settled |
| Close defense | Long, 52–72 in | Defensive end, three of them | Match up on the three attackmen. Footwork and body position first |
| LSM long-stick midfielder |
Long, 52–72 in | Faceoff wings and transition | Covers more ground than anyone. Takes the other team’s best offensive middie and starts the clear |
| Goalie | 40–72 in, head 10–12 in wide | The crease | Stop shots, direct the slides, start the clear. He runs the defense |
The boys field, with all ten positions in place.
2. Attack
Three attackmen who live in the offensive end. They score and they feed, and they are usually the best pure stick handlers on the roster.
2.1 X — the position with the best view in the sport
“X” is the spot directly behind the goal, and the attackman who lives there runs the offense. The reason is geometric: from behind the cage he sees the entire defense set up in front of him, and the goal itself protects his back. It is the closest thing lacrosse has to a quarterback in shotgun.
Steele Stanwick, Rob Pannell, Michael Sowers, Grant Ament — the names that defined the modern game at X were feeders first and scorers second. Source: Lacrosse Culture Daily.
2.2 But that archetype is changing
If your son has been told he is “a feeder,” know that the job description moved. Elite X attackmen now shoot accurately from distance and initiate from multiple spots, not just from behind.
2.3 What a coach is actually evaluating
Both hands, before anything else. An attackman who can only go one direction is a defender’s easiest assignment of the day. After that: can he move a slide, not just beat one man?
2.4 Go work on it
- Denison midfield dodging — the best free dodging breakdown on the internet, and it applies directly to attack
- Wall ball with both hands, every day. Our wall ball library has five workouts, and the alternating column is the one that builds an off hand.
- John Danowski’s Foundational Skills Set — the Duke head coach on the fundamentals under everything
3. Midfield — four jobs, not one
“Midfielder” is not a position. It is a region of the field containing four different jobs, and they substitute as units rather than as individuals.
3.1 Two-way midfielder
Plays both ends without leaving the field. The highest conditioning demand in the sport, and a “no weaknesses” profile rather than one standout tool — he has to dodge, shoot, catch and cover.
3.2 Offensive midfielder
Comes on for offensive sets, dodges from up top and the wings, shoots from range, goes off on the change. A different shot angle and a different job than an attackman, even though people lump them together.
3.3 SSDM — and why this position exists at all
Here is the four-pole rule doing its work. Only four long sticks are legal, and three are on close defense. So a settled defensive possession still needs two more midfielders — and by rule they have to be short sticks. That is the entire origin of the short-stick defensive midfielder.
3.4 The hardest job nobody watches
Every offense in America is coached to attack the short stick. That makes the SSDM’s matchup the single most-targeted spot on the field, by design, every possession.
UMass’s Matt Hill described it better than any coach could: “You’re going to be the one that’s getting dodged on every possession, so you have to be ready and aggressive to win your matchup.” His head coach Greg Cannella, on the temperament it takes: “It’s very unselfish.” Source: Daily Collegian.
3.5 FOGO — face off, get off
He takes every faceoff and comes off the moment possession is settled. The most specialized job in the sport, decided in about a fifth of a second.
Duke’s Jake Naso: “It happens in a split second. Every ref has a different cadence, so you’re trying to react to that whistle as soon as it blows… sort of like a little wrestling match.” Source: Duke Chronicle.
3.6 The technique that got banned
The motorcycle grip was banned on July 22, 2020 because it produced clamping stalemates that stopped the game dead. The legal stance now is standing and neutral, hands wrapped around the handle, resting on the ground.
Then in 2025 the cadence itself changed. The official now says “down,” adjusts the players, backs away, says “set,” and then whistles — specifically so the timing cannot be memorized. Source: USA Lacrosse.
3.7 Winning the clamp is not winning the faceoff
USA Lacrosse’s own analytics work says it plainly: “winning the faceoff doesn’t mean you’ve actually gotten the ball to your offense.” Coaches track exit percentage, not just win percentage.
3.8 Go work on it
- The Faceoff Academy — founded by Greg Gurenlian, with Trevor Baptiste on staff. The best faceoff instruction that exists.
- The daily routine: chops, snaps, ape walks, screw drill, then moves — pinch and pop, plunger back door, defensive draw, power clamp and pull, fish hook. Full breakdown in our drills and training video article.
- Conditioning for the two-way middie — agility ladder and change-of-direction work, daily.
4. Defense
4.1 Close defense
Three long poles matched on three attackmen. Footwork and body position first — the check is the finishing move, not the plan. A defenseman who leads with his stick gets beaten inside.
When I evaluate a young defender I am watching his hips and his feet long before I am watching his hands.
4.2 The fourth pole is a real roster decision
Because only four poles are legal, a team’s fourth-best defenseman usually never gets a long stick at all. The fourth pole either goes to a long-stick midfielder or to a fourth close defender — a live coaching decision every season, not a convention.
4.3 LSM — long-stick midfielder
A pole who plays midfield: faceoff wings, transition defense, and covering the other team’s best offensive middie. He covers more ground than any other player on the field, and unlike a close defenseman he has to catch and throw well enough to start a clear under pressure.
4.4 Go work on it
- Footwork before checking. Agility ladder, defensive slides, and mirror drills.
- Ground balls. The single most reliable predictor of which team wins, and entirely trainable alone.
- The Jim Berkman 2-Pack — Salisbury, 678–74 and thirteen national titles
5. Goalie
He is the only player who can see all of it, which is why he runs the defense. Stopping shots is half the job. Directing slides and starting the clear is the other half, and it is the half that decides games.
5.1 The widest stick in the game, by rule
The goalie head is 10 to 12 inches across — roughly two to four times a field player’s minimum. That is written into the rulebook as an equalizer against a shot that can travel over 100 miles an hour.
5.2 The four-second rule
Once a goalie has possession in the crease he has four seconds to get out. Hold it longer and the referee can call it — illegal procedure, turnover, and the offense restarts with the ball outside the box. The same applies in the girls’ game.
5.3 The three styles
| Style | What it is | Who plays it |
|---|---|---|
| High-arc | Steps far out to cut the angle down. Makes the goal look small; vulnerable to quick passes and fakes. | Dillon Ward |
| Mid-arc | Adjusts by situation. The most adaptable and the hardest to master. | Liam Entenmann |
| Deep-arc | Plays near the line and relies on reflexes. Better on inside shots, gives up more net from outside. | Blaze Riorden. Trevor Tierney played it first. |
5.4 What a coach evaluates
Quickness of the first move over size. Whether he talks nonstop. And how fast he resets after a goal — the goalies who reset fastest are the goalies who start. I have never once picked a goalie on save percentage alone.
5.5 Go work on it
- Goalie Evolution Academy — Trevor Tierney. The first person to ever put goalie drills on video.
- Quick hands drill — Brian “Doc” Dougherty · blind reaction drill — Scotty Rodgers
- Lax Goalie Rat, Goalie 101 · the warmup
- Brett Queener scoring goals — show this to any kid who thinks goalie is the boring position
Blaze Riorden plays attack in the indoor league and goalie in the outdoor league. He has been a PLL MVP and a Team USA captain. Never let a kid think of himself as “just a goalie” — he is a lacrosse player who happens to play the hardest position on the field.
6. Which position for your kid
Honest answer: do not pick one yet.
Body type matters less than parents think at young ages, and temperament matters more. The kid who cannot stand losing a ground ball is a defenseman waiting to happen. The kid who sees the whole field before anyone else is an attackman or a goalie. The kid with the engine plays midfield.
None of that has to be decided at nine, or eleven, or thirteen.
7. Play everywhere first
The best eighteen-year-olds I coach are almost always the ones who played three positions at ten. They understand what the man they are guarding is trying to do, because they used to be him.
Specialization is a high school decision, and it lands at roughly the same point as the first real step on the recruiting timeline. Before that, the goal is a kid who has stood in every spot on the field and knows what the game looks like from all of them — and there is no drill, no camp and no private coach that can replace that.
Paul Taylor
Varsity Head Coach, Central Catholic High School
Founder, Great American Lacrosse
Paul Taylor is the varsity head lacrosse coach at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio and the founder of Great American Lacrosse, which runs the SA Armadillos club teams and the Summer Showdown Camp. He has coached lacrosse in San Antonio for over a decade.
Train with Great American Lacrosse
Great American Lacrosse runs year-round programs in San Antonio — the Speed & Skills Clinic, the SA Armadillos club teams, winter rec, private training, and the Summer Showdown Camp. Open enrollment, every level, beginners welcome.