The NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Rules Committee has proposed changes to pregame and in-game stick checks for the 2019-20 academic year.

All rule changes must be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to consider the women’s lacrosse rules recommendations July 24.

Committee members, who met last week in Indianapolis, discussed stick checks thoroughly before deciding to replace the pregame stick check procedure with a random selection and closer inspection of eight sticks and to reduce the number of in-game stick checks to two per team. Currently, teams can request three stick checks.

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Additionally, only a coach who called a timeout can request a stick check. If a coach requests a stick check without calling a timeout and the opponent’s stick is found to be legal, the team that made the request will be charged with a timeout. If a team does not have a timeout and the opponent’s stick is found to be legal, possession of the ball will be awarded to the team that passed the stick check.

The committee received several proposals about stick checks from the membership and concluded this was the best way to move forward.

“We feel the changes regarding the pregame stick…