3-3 Zonde Defense
The game in the video shows how Weslyan used the 3-3 zone to beat Salisbury in the 2018 national championship game.
If you like a 3-3 zone then this is the game to watch.
The 3-3 Zone is your most basic zone.
- 3 players across the top (usually midfielders)
- 3 players across the bottom (usually defensemen)
All the players honor their zones and also support their adjacent teammates.
An advantage of the 3-3 Zone is that the slide packages are relatively simple, easy for a coach to install, and easy for players to understand no matter where they are moved to within the framework. The 3-3 Zone is a tremendous place to start introducing the concept of slides and team defense to new players.
First slide comes from the crease,
Second slide comes from the player defending the opponent farthest from the ball, and the
third slide comes from the defender who was adjacent to the second slide.
Typically in this zone you will have your Defense across the bottom with the Middies across the top, though there are variations you can use in accordance with who you are facing and the personnel you have.
If you are using a long pole middie you might want to put him at the center of the middies to shore up defense of the crease and the hole,
If the scouting report says your opponent primarily dodges from top right you might want to put the long pole there as a counter.
If the opposing team's best players are middies up top with strong shooters, you may want to put the long poles up top and the middies down low.
Some teams' basic 3-3 Zone has the 4 long poles set up in a box with the 2 short sticks in the middle as a way for the long poles to put pressure on the perimeter.
A disadvantage is that once the offense identifies the 3-3 Zone it is a simple matter for them to overload one side of the zone with a 3v2 that can lead to very good scoring chances. The adjustment, however, is equally simple -- the defending team must be coached to recognize this overload situation developing and rotate as if a slide is occuring.
In the image above you can see how the zone shifts with the ball.
The standard instructions for a 3-3 Zone are for everyone on defense to "Stay Topside".
About Topside:
In most sports, staying between the opponent and the goal is the best general way to describe defense, but in lacrosse this idea is a little different.
It is generally true in lacrosse that offense has a 1v1 advantage since an offense player with the ball has the initiative and knows where he wants to take the ball. A defender is (normally...) forced to react and counter moves made by the offense, which incidentally takes more physical work and can lead to fatigue in a 4 quarter game. Actually it is generally accepted that an individual defensive player is going to get beat in a 1v1 dodge much of the time. Now, there is no reason to concede the dodge, just as there is no reason to be unduly critical of a player who gets beat in a 1v1, but it is reasonable to say we sort of expect it.
Since we sort of expect it, we can prepare.
The way to prepare is for players to position themselves so that if they do get beat they get beat in a way everyone is ready for. Almost always this means getting beat "under" and not letting the opponent get "topside". This idea feels strange to many new lacrosse players, especially if they play another sport, because it tends to feel like they are allowing the opponent to go to the goal, but there is an explanation:
Envision standing directly in front of a goal -- this is the best place to shoot from. Now envision standing beside a goal at GLE (Goal Line Extended), and imagine how much of the goal you can see -- almost none and none at all if you are honest about it. Behind the goal an offensive player can not shoot, but as they progress from GLE back up top to the center of the field they are able to see more and more shooting area of the goal. In lacrosse parlance we say that their "angle" or "shooting angle" is improving.
Offense is trying to get to places in front of the goal with the ball and defense is trying to get the ball, but while the offense has the ball the defense wants the offense to have the ball as far away from good places to shoot on goal as possible.
So, back to our example of the 1v1 dodger. It is illegal for offense to run into the crease, so they are not trying to run the ball into the goal. Instead, dodgers are trying to get to a good place to shoot.
Wait a moment, though, since we said the 1v1 dodger statistically has a slight edge, why aren't lacrosse scores far higher? If the dodger typically wins a 1v1, why isn't the score usually 99 to 100?
The answer is Team Defense and the fact that there are 6 other players on defense (when we are even strength and include the goalie) who are helping to stop the ball. A defender, even though they are absorbed in a 1v1 confrontation, needs to defend in a way that makes it easier for his teammates to help.
If a defender allows a ball carrier to just run to the center of the field and quickly shoot he is not really giving his teammates a chance to help him. If a defender can block the ball carrier from getting to the center of the field he is instead making the offense go toward the side and the back of the goal, which means the shooting angle is decreasing for the offense. If the defense forces the ball carrier to keep running he will eventually force the offense to run behind the goal where he can not shoot at all.
Additionally, if a defender forces his opponent under and to the sides he is making it easier for the slide to be helpful. Imagine a defensive unit that is playing live ball and is well-coached and prepared to slide, but a defensive middie up top allows a ball carrier to run toward the center with the ball -- if the slide comes from the crease the original defending middie will actually be in the way. If instead the defensive midfielder stays topside the slide will be able to go at the ball carrier and we can start talking about a 2v1 where the defense has an advantage -- double-teams -- and at a minimum we can start talking about learning when to peel off a double-team and recover.
There are variations. For example some teams want offense to think they are beating their man topside because they have a "welcoming committee" waiting, and there are other solutions such as adjacent slides, however in both of these examples the principle of taking away the shooting area between the islands in the center of the field remains.
A quick aside to drive the point home -- the best teams I ever played with had fewer and fewer "plays". We were coached to understand that lacrosse is a very dynamic game and there are sometimes many right answers, sometimes no perfectly right answers, and sometimes the best answer is to just be a lacrosse player. This meant sometimes playing to principles alone and was particularly useful in moments of sheer chaos when the outcome of a game was on the line and the team was in a situation no one would have been able to draw a play up for anyway.
One principle that consistently makes sense and comes up in most defensive schemes is to "Stay Topside". As a result, coaches will often tell defenders "Look, it's ok to get beat, just get beat in the way we want and the team will be able to help".
There is also plenty to be said about staying topside when your opponent does not have the ball, particularly on the crease. A crease defender "fronting the crease" is not trying to stay between the man and the goal but is instead trying to stay between the man and the ball. This is because an offensive player on the crease can catch a ball and shoot it without even turning toward the goal, or while being knocked to the ground by his defender, but if the defender is between the man and the ball the pass is unlikely to reach that crease offenseman in the first place.
In this way the concept of staying topside expands a defense's thinking beyond keeping an opponent away from the goal and focusses a team more on keeping the ball away from an opponent and keeping the opponent away from places on the field. In this way defense can start thinking about telling the offense what they are going to do, and we can start to open a question about which side has the initiative after all...
Guidelines and benefits at each spot for staying topside within a basic 3-3 Zone are:
Top Corner - the middie should try and force the player down the sideline and force them down the alley. The goal of the middie is to stay topside and not let the offensive player carry the ball to the center of the field.
Lower Corner - This can be a great place to pressure the ball, especially if the defender can use footwork to corral the ball carrier into a back corner. The main goal of the defender is again to stay topside and not let the ball handler go above Goal Line Extended.
Back Center (X) - The center defender can extend out and play the ball at X with no immediate fear of giving up a shot since they are behind the goal. Also, at X the defender knows they have adjacent support and that the offense has only limited passing lanes, so the defender is relatively free to press hard and take more risks. Just remember that on defense position is more important than possession, and you want both!
Side - This is where the zone is most vulnerable, this is the soft spot between the middies and the
defenseman. It is also where a zone overload offense will usually try to strike. Typically you want the lower defender to step up in this spot to force an opponent behind knowing it makes them a minimal threat if the offensive player beats his man under. If that happens it is even easy for the crease defender to come and help. If the top middie comes down and plays him and the offensive player beats him topside then the offensive player and maybe his now unguarded teammate are in a very good shooting position.
Top Center - The center middie can now press the ball as far out as the coach feels comfortable with. The
two adjacent middies must sluff in to force the offensive player down the alley if they dodge.
In the 3-3 Zone defense in the image there is much more emphasis being placed on the talented long pole top center. Because he is the best take-away defend, if he is playing a guy and that player leaves his zone, you do not want him to let that pressure up so he will stay on him. You will also notice how the adjacent is being pressed out giving the player he is pressuring less of an outlet.
