Women's lacrosse kit: a different game, with its own rules.

A different game, with different kit

Women's field lacrosse has its own rule books: World Lacrosse's women's field rules (2025-2026, v1.0) internationally, and in the United States the girls' youth, NFHS girls' and NCAA women's rules. The women's stick has its own specification, written so that the ball moves freely and can be dislodged without an excessively forceful check. Women's and girls' field players do not wear the men's hard-shell helmet. Everything on this page is about the women's and girls' game; men's rules are never applied here. A v1.1 of the women's field book, dated March 2025, exists but was not read for this site, and the NFHS girls' and NCAA women's rule books were not read either, so US rules come from their published change summaries and releases. USA Lacrosse writes the girls' youth rules for 14U and below and works with the NFHS on the high school girls' rules. Check the rule your league uses.

What the World Lacrosse women's field book requires

• Mouthguard (Rule 6.A.5): every player, including the goalkeeper, wears a professionally manufactured intra-oral mouthguard covering all upper teeth. Any colour is allowed, including white or clear; it must not be altered to reduce protection, and field players remove protruding tabs.
• Allowed, not required (Rule 6.A.2): close-fitting gloves, nose guards and eye guards. Field players may not wear headgear or face masks under this book.
• Eye guards (Rules 6.A.2 to 6.A.4): any worn must meet the safety aspects of Rule 6 or a certification requirement of any country, organisation or standard; World Lacrosse says it does not guarantee, monitor or approve eye guards or any certification process. Prescription glasses or sunglasses may be worn, with shatter-resistant frames and lenses strongly recommended.
• Medical need (Rule 6.A.6): extra protective devices are allowed on genuine medical need if officials agree they are not dangerous.
• Shoes (Rule 6.A.19): cleats or studs with smooth exposed surfaces; athletics spikes are not allowed; flat soles are.
• Clothing (Rules 6.A.7 and 6.A.9 to 6.A.18): numbers at least 15 cm on the front and 20 cm on the back; visible undergarments matching the shirt, or under the kilt, skirt or shorts matching it or one solid dark colour; hats or visors with soft neoprene brims allowed; a hijab may be worn.

World Lacrosse's May 2026 decision

On 12 May 2026 World Lacrosse decided that protective eyewear will be required, and soft-shell headgear permitted, for women's field and women's sixes athletes at its owned and sanctioned events: from the 2027 Sixes World Championships for sixes, and from the 2029 Women's U20 Championship for women's field (for eyewear, or an earlier continental qualifier for the 2030 Women's Championship), to be written into the 2027-2030 women's field book. The 2025-2026 book does not contain these changes, so the book and the decision are each correct for their dates. World Lacrosse cites research that eyewear can cut the likelihood of catastrophic eye injury by up to 84 percent when an impact occurs, and a 2024 study reporting a 50 percent lower concussion rate with soft-shell headgear; it names neither study, so both are World Lacrosse's claims. World Lacrosse strongly encourages its members to adopt the standards for domestic play.

World Lacrosse's FAQ says women's field and sixes field players are not required to wear commotio cordis protection, citing 1982 to 2023 data of four incidents and one death among female athletes across all sports, none attributed to lacrosse, against 60 incidents and 33 deaths among males; the page does not name its data source.

Eyewear in the United States

In May 2003 the US Lacrosse Women's Division Board of Governors voted to strongly recommend eyewear meeting the then-current ASTM lacrosse standards for 2004 and make it mandatory from 1 January 2005, at youth, scholastic and collegiate levels (ISHN, 30 May 2003; MedStar Health). The first compulsory year is reported differently by source: Fairfax County, Virginia public high schools required eyewear from the 2004 season (MedStar Health), and an NFHS high school requirement from 2004 rests only on a secondary source and is unconfirmed. A trade-body memo hosted by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association says that from 1 January 2020 youth and high school eyewear had to be SEI certified to the current ASTM F3077 and listed by SEI; no USA Lacrosse or NFHS original was read, so that too is unconfirmed. ASTM F3077 is the women's lacrosse eye protector standard; a German standards distributor lists F3077-25 as the current edition, not confirmed with ASTM. The current NFHS girls' and NCAA women's eyewear wording was not read. The injury studies are on eye injuries and the eyewear rule.

Headgear in the United States

Women's headgear is a soft product made to ASTM F3137, active edition F3137-15(2022), for field players and not goalkeepers. USA Lacrosse made it optional, with any headgear worn required to meet F3137 from 1 January 2017, and USA Lacrosse Magazine said in September 2021 that it remained optional under NCAA, NFHS and USA Lacrosse rules. No headgear is presented here as preventing concussion; the evidence and the one confirmed state mandate are on the headgear debate.

Other US rules worth knowing

• NFHS girls' 2027: every crosse must be commercially available and listed on the USA Lacrosse website (Rule 2-2-5b); players may not switch sticks with others on the field during play (Rule 9-1h); from 1 January 2031 home teams wear white jerseys (Rule 2-9-4).
• NFHS girls' 2026: no audio or video devices may be worn in a game (Rule 2-8-3), and stick checks may be requested only at set times, such as quarter breaks and straight after goals (Rule 2-4-5).
• NCAA women's 2026-27: equipment needing certification must be commercially available to all schools by 1 January before the spring season, and players may exchange sticks on the field when they do not have the ball. The NFHS and NCAA differ on stick exchanges; each rule applies to its own level.
• Ball: USA Lacrosse Magazine says women's lacrosse has used yellow balls since the modern college game began; World Lacrosse's women's field book allows any solid colour, with yellow at its events.

Sixes, box and goalkeepers

In women's sixes (World Lacrosse 2026-2028, v2.0, Rule 2.4.1W) players may wear headgear meeting ASTM or comparable standards, a player wearing headgear must also wear certified eyewear, close-fitting gloves are allowed, and hard-shell helmets are strictly prohibited for field players. Box lacrosse is played by women under the same World Lacrosse box text as men, so its helmet, glove and pad rules apply, and from the 2028 Box Championships its shoulder pads must carry commotio cordis certification at World Lacrosse events. Women's field goalkeepers wear a helmet, throat protector, chest pad and padded gloves (Rules 6.A.20 and 6.A.21), and USA Lacrosse Magazine reported that from 1 January 2021 goalkeepers in US youth, high school and college women's lacrosse must wear an ND200 chest protector. See the goalie gear guide.

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