Face off possession

by **davidre** on Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:57 pm

This is more of a stat question than rules. How is it determined who wins a face off? I always believed the winner was whichever team had control of the ball when the ref called possession. However, I have heard other interpretations such as whoever has "offensive possession", but that is a pretty vague description. This would also discount a win if the team had definitive possession in their defensive side but then turned it over. Does anybody know for sure or is it mainly just interpretations of what the rule book says?

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by **LaxRef** on Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:03 pm

See Appendix II in the NCAA rule book on record keeping. It covers pretty much all of what you're asking:

NCAA Appendix II wrote:Faceoff—The standard of faceoff statistics is to award the faceoff to the
faceoff specialist (when his team gains possession of the ball), regardless
of whether he actually gained possession himself. A faceoff should
be awarded to a team only when it gets a clear offensive or defensive
opportunity out of the play.
Note: As stated in Appendix II-h, ground balls should be awarded in
faceoff play.

A.R. 9. A1 faces off for his team. He obtains the ball in the faceoff situation but the
ball is immediately checked away. B1 picks up the ground ball and his team maintains
possession of the ball. STATISTICAL RULING: Credit faceoff to Team B.

A.R. 10. A1 controls the ball on the faceoff, retreats into the defensive half of the field,
closely guarded, and throws the ball away. STATISTICAL RULING: If Team B can
obtain possession of the ball and keep it, credit Team B with the faceoff. Similarly, if
Team A subsequently obtains possession of the ball and keeps it, credit Team A with the
faceoff.

A.R. 11. Same situation as A.R. 10, but A1 advances the ball to his offensive half of the
field, closely guarded, and throws the ball away. STATISTICAL RULING: Same as
A.R. 10.

A.R. 12. The ball goes out of bounds on the faceoff before a team obtains possession
of the ball. STATISTICAL RULING: Credit the team that is awarded the ball on the
out-of-bounds play with a faceoff. If neither team is awarded the ball out of bounds, delay
the crediting of the faceoff until the subsequent re-face is concluded.

A.R. 13. Before either team can obtain the faceoff, a player on either team is charged with
a foul. STATISTICAL RULING: Credit the offended team with the faceoff, if one
team gets the ball. In the case of a double foul, or any other violation requiring a re-face
of the ball, wait to credit the faceoff until the play is complete.

A.R. 14. A goal is scored near the end of the period. STATISTICAL RULING: If
there is no subsequent faceoff, no faceoff can be credited statistically. If a faceoff occurs,
award the faceoff as judgment allows by determining the possession (or something close
to it) when the period ends.

A.R. 15. A period ends in an uneven situation such that there will be no faceoff to start
the next period. STATISTICAL RULING: Do not award a faceoff.

A.R. 16. If there should be an extra faceoff for any reason, credit the faceoff according
to the preceding rules.

by **davidre** on Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:14 pm

Thanks, that does help. Although, I think the world "clear" is a little subjective. I can see how if the FO guy throws the ball out right away (on either end) it could be rewarded to the other team. But, after how much time or how many passes does it become a "clear" possession. That's when it seems to get a little grey.

by **Brent Burns** on Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:09 pm

I got an email from a friend who was watching the Loyola-Fairfield game on TV yesterday, and he was watching this faceoff play. I copied and pasted part of his email to which I was not sure how to respond to his question:

there was a face off.

Fairfield grabbed the ball first but lost control, and Loyola grabbed the
loose ball, but lost it again, and Fairfield grabbed the ball and lost it
again - a wild melee where no one was able to get control of the ball and
there was a pile up. The referee blew the whistle to stop the play.

Who won the faceoff?????

How would this be ruled?

by **laxfan25** on Sun Apr 20, 2008 2:30 pm

Brent Burns wrote:I got an email from a friend who was watching the Loyola-Fairfield game on TV yesterday, and he was watching this faceoff play. I copied and pasted part of his email to which I was not sure how to respond to his question:

there was a face off.

Fairfield grabbed the ball first but lost control, and Loyola grabbed the
loose ball, but lost it again, and Fairfield grabbed the ball and lost it
again - a wild melee where no one was able to get control of the ball and
there was a pile up. The referee blew the whistle to stop the play.

Who won the faceoff?????

How would this be ruled?

Well if Fairfield "grabbed the ball first" and the refs indicated "Posession!" - FU won the faceoff. What transpired after that would consist of defensive strips and ground balls, followed by a loose-ball technical foul call.

by **LaxRef** on Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:09 pm

laxfan25 wrote:Well if Fairfield "grabbed the ball first" and the refs indicated "Posession!" - FU won the faceoff. What transpired after that would consist of defensive strips and ground balls, followed by a loose-ball technical foul call.

You obviously missed:

"A faceoff should be awarded to a team only when it gets a clear offensive or defensive opportunity out of the play. "

Also, see:

NCAA Appendix II wrote:Ground balls should be awarded as part of the faceoff
play; however, a ground ball is not always awarded when an official
signals possession on a faceoff play, since his definition of possession
does not rise to the standard of that of a ground ball.