NFHS/USAL Rule 1 (Part 1): Excerpt from "Girls Lacrosse for Beginners 2025"

Rule 1 the Playing Area and Goal

Rule 1 of the National Federation of High Schools Girls Lacrosse Rules Book addresses the playing area and goals.

There is some flexibility in the size of the Girls Lacrosse Field.  The maximum playing area is 140 x 70 yards, and the minimum is 110 x 60 yards. The goals should be no less than 90 yards and no more than one hundred yards apart. There must be a minimum of ten yards or a maximum of twenty yards of space behind each goal line to the boundary line. There must be 4m of space between the sideline boundary and the scorer’s table. There should be at least 4m of space between the other sideline and any spectator area.

Typically, a Girls Lacrosse field is played on a high school football field that measures 120 yards x 160 feet. Actually, the National Federation of High Schools rules book for football measures a football field (including the end zones) in feet, so the field is by rule 360 feet x 160 feet. In yards a football field is 120 yards x 53.33 yards.

Why is this important? Well, there is such a thing in Lacrosse as “Unified Field” markings. The Unified Field MUST BE 120 YARDS IN LENGTH. The width may vary between sixty yards and 53.33 yards.

Again, why is this important? The sidelines and endlines for Lacrosse Unified Field markings may also be the same as football. IF DIRECTORS OF ATHLETICS WOULD ONLY USE THE SAME BOUNDARY MARKINGS FOR FOOTBALL, BOYS LACROSSE, AND GIRLS LACROSSE THEY WOULD ELIMINATE TWO EXTRA SETS OF LINES AND A LOT OF CONFUSION!

Also, there is often a significant error when Directors of Athletics attempt to use Unified Field markings at their facility.  It is obvious that what many Directors of Athletics do is tell the Boys Lacrosse coach to mark the field; and then tell the Girls Lacrosse coach to unify the field.  There is a problem, however.

What happens is that the Boys Lacrosse coach will invariably use the markings for a Boys Lacrosse field – 110 yards long, with the goal line 15 yards from each endline. This places the center line for Boys Lacrosse 40 yards from each goal line and each restraining line 20 yards from the center line and the goal lines.

When the Girls Lacrosse coach goes to put her field markings on to the Boys Lacrosse markings she will find that it is not possible. The Unified Field must be exactly 120 yards long with the Unified goal lines 15 yards from the end lines and the restraining lines 40 yards from the goal lines.  This incorrect measuring of the length of the Unified Field leads to three possible errors or difficulties:

1. The end line markings run through the football end zones and the additional logos that are often placed there and not along the football end lines creating some visibility problems.
2. The Girls Lacrosse 12m Fans is pushed 5 yards closer to the restraining lines creating a safety problem.
3. The Girls Lacrosse restraining lines are ten yards closer to the center line creating a safety problem.

You will notice already a mixing of English and metric measurements. That mixture continues throughout the game and is illustrative of the complexity that is in part self-inflicted.

 The Field Markings