Women’s Goalie Guide to 8 Meter Shots
By Coach Damon
Among the differences that female lacrosse goalies encounter is the special play called the 8-meter shot.
If a female ball carrier is fouled inside the 8 meter arc, she gets a free position shot at the closest hash on the arc. All defenders located inside the arc at the time of the foul are also positioned on the closest spot on the arc but always at least 4 yards away from the shooter.
For the Lax Goalie Rat podcast I recently spoke with Team USA goalie Liz Hogan (episode coming soon!!) who broke down her approach on how to best make saves on 8-meter shots.
What’s the strategy? What are some techniques you can do to increase your save percentage?
Read the Situation
Your first step is to read the entire situation. This will help dictate how we setup.
So what pieces of information are you looking for?
- On which hash is the shooter setup?
- Where are your defenders located?
- Where are the offensive teammates located?
- Who has the ball?
The more towards the center hash a ball carrier is located the more of a threat to shoot they are.
If the ball carrier is surrounded by defenders you know she likely cannot maneuver left or right and you can a take a little more aggressive approach with a higher arc.
On the contrary, if no defenders are close to the ball carrier during the restart the shooter can maneuver left or right before firing a shot and thus we don’t want to be as aggressive in our arc for fear of being caught out of position as the ball carrier might be able to advance all the way to the crease.
If there is only a single defender on one side, you know the ball carrier will not dodge in that direction and can be better prepared.
If you know the offense’s top scorer has the ball you can fully expect a shot. If a role player starts with the ball while an open offensive player is close to the goal you can expect a pass.
Reading the situation can dictate how you set up on the arc and how aggressive you can play.
Understanding all these elements will help you be prepared once that whistle blows.
Increasing your chance of saving the 8-meter shot.
Each free position shot is a little different in terms who has the ball, where they’re starting from, and where your defenders are located. So be sure to take it all in prior to the whistle to best know how to defend the play.
Pre-Save Routine
The 8-meter shot for a goalie is similar to a free throw for a basketball player.
Going through the same routine prior to shooting a free throw was scientifically proven to increase your chances of making the shot!
While the same study hasn’t been done in the women’s lacrosse world, I can pretty much guarantee you the results would also be true. Pre-shot (or pre-save) routines work!
Lady goalies who go through the same physical routine prior to a shot will make more saves.
Each pre-save routine is unique to the goalie. Your pre-save routine could be any combination of the following:
- Deep breaths
- Turn and face the goal
- Checking the pipes
- Squatting down and jumping up
- Hitting your facemask with your shaft
- Yelling a positive affirmation
The list goes on and on.
The pre-save routine will also help block those distracting thoughts that interfere with your performance. Things like crowd noise, fans waving their arms, worrying about giving up a goal, thoughts of past misses, the score, teammates, spectators or parents.
By focusing on your pre-save routine, you normalize the free position shot. You lessen the sense of pressure you feel and take your mind off of that fear of missing the save and giving up a goal.
In this way the pre-save routine will help you mentally as much as it does physically.
So develop your own pre-save routine and put it into action before every 8-meter shot. This will increase your chances of making the save.
Direct the Defense
As a goalie, remember you are the leader of the defense.
So you need to ensure that all defenders know their roles during the restart play.
Who is going to cover the ball? Who is going to cover an open attack player? Who is going to chase an errant shot?
All this type of communication can and should occur prior to the shot and as a goalie its imperative that you, and every single defender, are on the same page once that whistle blows.
Practice 8-Meters When Tired
Growing up I had a basketball coach that said – anyone can hit a free throw when they’re fresh. I want players who can sink the shot with 0:01 on the clock after running up and down the court for 45 minutes.
The point here is making a save is easier when you’re fresh and 100% mentally alert.
But when your body gets tired and you start to lose it a little mentally, the saves become tougher and tougher.
So be sure to practice taking a few 8-meter situations at the end of practice when your body is tired.
Or run a few sprints right before the whistle blows to start the restart the 8-meter to simulate being the end of game scenario.
If you struggle with the physical element of your game, try a lacrosse goalie workout.
This will help train your body and mind to make the save in the 4th quarter with 0:01 on the clock.
Scout Players if You Can
I find that many female lacrosse players make the same moves over and over again on 8-meter restarts.
Even just knowing whether they fire on the whistle, take 1-2 step and then fire, or prefer to dodge as close to goal as possible before shooting can aid us in being better prepared to make the save.
If you don’t have video or a scouting report on the team your playing, it’s not the end of the world. But any piece of information we can use to better increase our chances of saving an 8-meter should be used.
8-Meter Shot Saves
Check out this compilation of saves I made by female goalies off of 8-meter plays.
Based on the position of ballcarrier and the defenders try to guess what the attacker is going to do prior to the whistle.
P.S. You can find more videos like this on the Lax Goalie Rat YouTube channel.
Videos on 8 Meter Shooting
To better make saves on 8-meter shots it helps to understand what the offense is trying to do.
Here are a couple videos with tips for the offense, that all goalies should watch too.
Conclusion
The free position shot is a common play in ladies lacrosse that happens anytime a ball carrier is fouled within the 8-meter arc.
Since a female lacrosse goalie is likely to face several of them per game it helps to have a strategy to increase your saves on 8-meter shots.
Reading the situation, going through a pre-save routine, and understanding what the shooter is likely to do once the whistle blows are all vital elements to consistently saving 8-meter shots.
As a leader of the D, you’ll also want to ensure everyone knows their role on the restart.
Good luck saving those 8-meter shots!
Until next time! Coach Damon
Any other points you think I missed when it comes to saving 8-meter shots? Would love to hear about it. Leave me a comment down below. What’s your approach?
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never trained lacrosse, I was not interested in it
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The famous hockey player Alexei Kovalev spoke about why he did not try to score a lacrosse goal during his career in the NHL. The author of the first such goal in the history of the league was the forward “Carolina” Andrey Svechnikov in October 2019. – Why didn’t you play lacrosse in the 90s? – Then foppish goals were not welcomed. I remember that they looked askance at you even for a throw from under your foot. And now it is believed that if you score an unusual goal, then you are no longer a hockey player, but a god. I have never trained lacrosse, it was not interesting to me. There are certain feints – so, I remember, everyone liked how I threw nines, holding the stick with one hand. These things can be used in the game if you jump out from the side and lay the hull. You have a stick in just one hand. Once – and scored. And the goalkeeper does not expect this. I remember I did a feint, which was also performed by Pasha Datsyuk. You stand outside the goal, throw it, and so that the puck lands on the back of the goalkeeper, and he enters the net with it. Or you just throw it on a nickel, and there it ricochets into the goal. – If you had hit foppish lacrosse in 1994, what would Rangers head coach Mike Keenan have done to you? – If I had scored, I would not have done anything. And if he had failed the feint, he would have started shouting: “What kind of frills? Why did you ruin the moment?” Then even hockey players were afraid to do this, because it would be considered a game with a high stick. After all, you can give a pass or get out yourself. In my time, no one showed off, and they played simply. |
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I tried that a couple of times, but it didn’t work. Lacrosse is beautiful, unusual, masterful. But for me, this is not a “wow” movement. Now, if you are like Connor McDavid, and you score, starting from the “mustache” to the goal, circling three players – this is “wow”. Well, what is lacrosse? You put the puck on the stick and throw it from behind the goal. If the goalkeeper missed a moment, then you scored. Well done. But I’m a different style player and I like different tricks. 
The puck must be on the ice. And if you can beat two people in three meters, then that’s cool, – said the Olympic champion and Stanley Cup winner, – said Kovalev. Source Match TV
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LACROSSE
ap
Dmitry Khamin
President of the 6×6 Lacrosse Federation
Player of the Russian national team at the World Cup 2014, 2018 and
European Championship 2016
Certified trainer (US Lacrosse,
World Lacrosse)
Tsukanov Evgeniy
Head of the Moscow Region
department
Player of the Russian national team at the World Cup 2018 and
European Championship 2016
Alexander Zarubin
Head of the Moscow branch
Player of the Russian national team at the 2014 World Cup and
Assistant head coach at the 2016 European Championship,
World Cup 2018
Referee of the international category
HISTORY
BRIEF DESCRIPTION 9003 0 Lacrosse is a contact
sport game between two
teams using
small rubber ball and
special stick.
The goal of the game
is to throw the ball into the opponent’s goal
with a club.
TIME AND PLACE OF START
The game was invented by the American Indians, who used it
to train warriors and peacefully resolve conflicts
between tribes. According to archaeological research
, the prototype of lacrosse was known in
territory of modern Canada already at the beginning of the 15th century.
Teams at that time often consisted of several hundred
people, and the length of the field for the game ranged from
several hundred meters to several kilometers.
European settlers got acquainted with this game at
XVII century, and by the beginning of the XIX century, it began to win
popularity among the French population of Canada.
The first official lacrosse match took place in Canada in
1867.
Lacrosse was twice included in the program of the
Summer Olympic Games – in 1904 and 1908, and also
was a demonstration sport at the 1928,
1932 and 1948 Olympics.