GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In NCAA women's lacrosse, green means stop.
A wave of time-consuming penalties, 494 over opening weekend in February, indicated green cards are sweeping the sport as player safety has become a heavy point of emphasis for the NCAA in recent years.
The barrage of penalties can be traced back to 2023, when Yale attacker Taylor Everson was cross-checked from behind in a game against Stony Brook University. The hit ruptured Everson's kidney, leading to severe internal bleeding, multiple surgeries and a two-week stint in the ICU.
The incident led the NCAA to stiffen penalties in the sport, resulting in the widespread expansion of the green card.
The green card acts as an immediate power play. The offender is hit with a one-minute, releasable penalty for committing fouls such as:
● Blocking/illegal picks
● Charging
● Cross checks
● Forcing through
● Holding
● Illegal use of a stick
● Pushing
● Tripping
However, the tightening of player safety has negatively impacted the pace of play.
Despite recent tweaks, Gators head coach Amanda O'Leary is still bothered by the rule. O'Leary spent 14 years at Yale before taking over the Gators and was an All-American at Temple in the late 1980s. She has seen the sport evolve in both good and bad ways.
"I'm not a fan of the green card," O'Leary said. "We had a fairly fluid game, and now everything is very choppy."
Instead of the prior rules, under which a player was given two warnings before she was sent to the penalty box for some of the listed penalties, the green card calls for immediate jailing.
The process of the penalized player jogging to the sideline, the other players getting into their offensive/defensive sets, and the referees making sure everything is ready before restarting the game takes roughly 60-90 seconds of real time.
In Florida's game against Dartmouth on March 21, there were 10 green cards. That amounted to roughly 11 minutes of players standing around waiting for play to begin. There were only five green cards called in Florida's home win over USF on Wednesday.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan," O'Leary said. "Not a fan."
The players have noticed the negative impact, too.
"There weren't green cards my freshman year," UF senior Theresa Bragg said. "Since they came into the game, it's a lot of stops."
Green cards affect play in the critical scoring areas as well. A green card penalty in either critical zone is grounds for an 8-meter free position, akin to a hockey shootout except with adjacent defenders.
While the clock does run during the free positions, the pace of play is punished.
And because of the hard-and-fast rules, the 8-meter free position is not only a high-percentage scoring option but also quite attainable. Teams have no choice but to incorporate drawing critical zone penalties into their game plans.
For example, in the Gators' 19-8 waxing of Scotland on Feb. 17, almost half of Florida's goals came from an 8-meter free position shot.
"We practice those free position shots," O'Leary said. "We try to engage and draw those penalties."
Gators head coach Amanda O'Leary speaks to her team earlier this season before a road game at Stetson. (Photo: Bella Rosa/UAA Communications)
The broadening of what constitutes a green card penalty has led to an increased emphasis on the officials by O'Leary and her staff since the start of the season.
"You need to play to the officials," she said. "That's one of the things that we need to adapt to a little bit better as well. I thought our first game against Michigan was a little tighter called, and then against Loyola it was a little looser."
Meanwhile, the players continue to adjust to a trend out of their control.
"Sometimes it's frustrating when you don't really know where the line is, what's a call and what's not," Bragg said. "But we just have to work through it. Over the course of this season, they've lightened up and let us play a bit more.
"The process of sending the girl off and setting up the clock has become a little bit faster because it happens so much more often."
About eight weeks into the season, O'Leary has praised her team's resilience and the discipline it has acquired entering Saturday's road game at San Diego State.
"We're playing much more composed," she said. "We're playing with more confidence. I'm really proud of them that the penalties have gone down tremendously."
