More Offensive Material
So I read my article from last week about offense. I realized immediately that I have two areas that I need to improve upon. The first would be proofreading and editing. The second would be my skills in basic computer technology that most people my age should more proficient at. If you read, or more hilariously listened to last week’s piece I wrote on principles based offenses, you would have noticed a bunch of X’s inexplicably and seemingly randomly listed right in the middle of the article. Well the reason for that was I tried to put diagrams of the offensive formations I was describing in the article and my formatting didn’t quite translate from word to outlook. I probably should have caught that, but it made for an interesting reprieve. So here is another attempt at showcasing the sets and talking through the pairs concept a bit further. So without further ado, here are the main sets and their subsequent corresponding “pairs.”
So, hopefully this shows more clearly. I actually took the time to put in the shape of the sets, number the spots on the field, and show the pairs relationship as best as I could. Looks a little better than a bunch of X’s. Let’s start with the first depiction, the 1-3-2. Again, this also serves to show I how choose to label the sets. I count and label from behind because that’s how I look at the sets, with the end line at the top of the page. 1-4-1’s and 2-2-2’s are universal, But some people choose to look at the page with the midline at the top of the page, making my 1-3-2, a “2-3-1” and my 2-3-1, a “1-3-2.” The debate will continue to rage on, but as long as your players know what you mean, that’s all that matters. SO counting from X, my 1 in the 1-3-2 will be my X attackmen. This doesn’t always have to be this way, but in a normal setup, I put the other 2 attackmen at the 2 and 5 spots. The 3, 4, and 6 are middies. This is probably more important in my opinion. To me in doesn’t always matter if the middie with the pole goes to the 6 spot, or if you have a crease attackmen that’s good inside you can put him at the 6, and put the middie with the pole either at the 2 or the 5 (or at the 1 for that matter). But for me, I would always at least try to start with the 2 short stick middies at the 3 and 4 spots. You can create a lot of great disruption with a “big/little” pair. That’s how we describe a relationship on the field with a pair working together with a pole matchup (big) and a short stick matchup (little). Picks, slips, flybys, and general 2 man games with big/little matchups are difficult to defend and a great way to get a crafty attackmen matched up with a Short stick defender, which can be a tough matchup and a greenlight for an attackmen to dodge. So it doesn’t really matter who has the ball, all the pairs work together. If number 3 decides to dodge, player 2 will clear space and replace number 3 on the field. Same with number 1 at X. Number 6 would pop to X and replace number 1 should he choose to dodge. If a wing player wants to sweep to the middle, like number 5, then his pair player 4 can clear space and replace, or set a pick on 5’s defender. Off-ball simple exchanges can create a lot of confusion for a defense. So for instance. If number 4/5 pairs are passing down/picking for the ball carrier, 1 and 6 and 2 and 3 should switch places on the field. It’s that simple. Like 2 ships passing in the night. One of 2 things can happen. Either all their defenders will match feet with their matchup, and be unavailable as a slide option, leaving the dodger only one man to get by to get to the goal, or if one of their defenders is hot, or a 2 slide, the backside defenders can lose sight of one of the moving off-ball players and it’s just a matter of connecting a pass or two to find the open offensive player. Hopefully that makes sense.
The next set is our 2-3-1, or our 3-high middie set. A traditional 2-3-1 has 2 guys on the pipes or behind GLE, 2 players on the wing the same distance above GLE as the crease attackmen and 1 man up above the restraining line. We like to run the 3-high look with 3 middies high around or above the restraining line. Some coaches call it a 2-1-3 which makes sense as well. In a normal set, we put all 3 middies high, like previously stated, 2 attackmen on the pipes and 1 on the crease. How we pair up is illustrated. Wherever player 3 wants to dodge, player 6 will replace him. Player 6 is an interesting conundrum. Some teams will put their best overall player in the 6 spot, or at least their top dodging attackmen, a main reason for this being he is likely being guarded by the other team’s best defenseman. By making the other team’s best defender the first slide, you can either create a great matchup for player 6 on the throw back, or create a 1v1 matchup for player 3, knowing that the other team probably won’t be eager to slide off player 6. Sometimes you can put your best outside shooter in the 6 spot. It’s up to you how you want to do it. Off-ball, players 1 and 2 can do a number of things. They can flip flop or exchange. They can front swing, see-saw or mirror each other, fade to X and sneak the crease or, clear through and pop to X. They can even stand in place and hold their pipes if they want to, as long as they are occupying their defenders. Players 4 and 3 do something specific for us in this set. Player 5 will cut the crease to balance the O. Player 4 will fade to player 5’s spot to give room to the dodger or to player 6 coming off the crease. After this they will play out of the offense in their pairs.
Next is the 2-2-2. Like I said in my last article, I like this set the best personally. It is perfect for the pairs style of offense. You have 3 pairs, 2 above GLE and 1 operating below it and in the crease area. Same principles can be used here. On-ball pair dodges and replaces the dodger. The 2 off-ball pairs need to move without the ball to occupy their defenders. They can set off-ball screens on each other’s defenders, or exchange with each other. I like a principle I learned as a kid in high school I remember our coaches telling our O guys. If you start on the crease, you need to finish, off the crease. Simple as that. So if you don’t have the ball in your stick, or aren’t the player dodging, and you are on the crease when the dodge starts, you just have to end up somewhere else, whether that’s at X, up top, or on the wing. Same goes to the perimeter players without the ball in their stick. If you start on the outside at the time of the dodge, you have to end up on the inside. If you follow these simple principles, you’d be surprised how effective this system can be at confusing defenders and balancing the field of play.
The 1-4-1 set can be the hardest to run cleanly with 3 even pairs and clearly defined roles, but it can also be the most deadly. Schools that run a deadly pairs out of this set are Maryland, Penn State, and Division II Lewis. If you don’t mind getting a little dirty and playing in the grey, this can be a really fun set to play out of. As you can see, it’s hard to get 3 clean pairs from the initial set up. You could pair up players 4 and 1 if you feel better about doing that, but you can survive with one on-ball pair, one off-ball pair and 2 players a part of the set playing more or less independently. You could also pair up 2 players, use the backside 3 players working together off-ball and keep player 1 at X playing independently in the offense. That could work too if you have a player that has exceptional IQ and understands his role in the offense. Another principle I haven’t mentioned yet is the idea of the “new pair” principle. This essentially means that players aren’t confined to their “area” or wherever they started out. Players need freedom to move out there on the field, and can’t think that they are only confined to certain areas. If you wanted to run it that way, the easiest is the 1-3-2 offense in my opinion. You can keep that one clean if you have the right personnel. You can put your righties at the 4/5 spots, lefties at the 2/3 spots, and best crease and X players at the 1/6 spots. You can more or less keep those players in those quadrants more easily in that system because it is very rigid and more conducive if you have players that have those specific strengths. In the 1-4-1, you have to be more willing and able to switch “spots” and areas on the field. In which case, if you have players with strong IQ and great communication skills, you can teach them to pair up with new players over and over again to allow for constant flow within the offense. The player/ pair relationship is not mutually exclusive and can malleable. Meaning, you do not have to pair with the same player exclusively, or have to stay in the same area. If you know how to pair up with new players as the offense progresses, the pairs relationships within the offense can and should change, and the offense will never become stagnant. Stephen Brundage, OC at Hobart goes into great detail in this area with how he teaches his pairs offense
So not only do I hope this article explains the pairs principles based offenses a little bit clearer, but also shows what the formations and relationships could look like when setting up the offense. Again, Lacrosse is a flow sport and not meant to be too scripted, so these are meant to be used as more of an example as opposed to a “blueprint.” You can tinker and tweak the sets, pairs, players, and relationships as much as you want. That’s why I love lacrosse because what works great for one team, might not be the answer for another team based on their players skill sets, IQ, etc. You can take a framework that works best for your players and what you hope to achieve in your half-field set. But I think all these sets can be useful in a pairs style offense. Have fun with it and score more goals!
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.