What the rules say about Jeff Teat’s disallowed goal in Riptide’s loss to Seals
Jeff Teat, York Riptide (Photo: Evan Bernstein)
One of the most significant & seemingly most confusing storylines coming out of this past weekend’s National Lacrosse League regular-season openers was what occurred in the last minute of the New York Riptide’s 15-14 loss to the San Diego Seals.
Actually, strike that. Things got good a few minutes before those frantic final 60 seconds.
Down by five with under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Riptide seemed unlikely to stun the #1 ranked Seals on Saturday night, but…
First, Andrew Borgatti netted a goal in transition to fire up the squad with a little over four minutes of clock let. Then Connor Kearnan scored to make it 15-12. Jake Fox would finish another with 90 seconds remaining. Kearnan again found the back of the net on the power-play to pull New York within a miraculous one.
There were 32.5 seconds of game to go. New York’s Jay Thorimbert won the draw. Here we go.
After a Dan Lomas scoring attempt was spectacularly saved by San Diego stopper Frank Scigliano, Riptide forward Jeff Teat almost immediately regained possession of the ball behind the net. There were seven seconds left.
Let’s pause for a minute before we get to the actual scoring attempt.
Of note, when Scigliano made the save on Lomas’ sharp shot, he fell backwards snow-angel style, moving the net off its magnetic mooring a foot and change from the turf’s white goal line.
For any box lacrosse regular, a moved net rarely gets whistled dead. Play simply continues (more on that in a bit), at the official’s discretion of course. A fully flipped net is another story. In that case, the official would blow his whistle to stop game play (fingers crossed). A net excessively dislodged would also be met with a whistle.
Back to the action.
With the net now off the goal line and no longer parallel with that line either, Teat would make one last attempt at tying the game by driving from behind the funky goal frame, hitting the inside of the post nearest to him, seeing the shot drop on top of a sprawled Scigliano, and roll away from the net.
Frank Scigliano, San Diego Seals (Photo: Brandon Hill)
The shot was immediately waved off by officials as not being a goal. It was reviewed by the referees on video replay. The no-goal decision stood. The arena and many on social media were confused. With 6.2 seconds left on the clock and the Seals in possession on the restart, the Riptide wouldn’t get another chance to knot things up. Game over.
So, why was Teat’s game-tying effort, which was clearly behind the goal line, dusted by officials? We went to the NLL’s 2022-23 Official Rules to dissect the debated decision.
Firstly, for those new to the NLL, seeing the goal frame moved off the goal line with play continuing is, well, weird. In most other sports, the same wild situation would certainly see the play whistled dead the second the frame skipped off the line. That’s obviously never been the case in the NLL.
When examining the NLL’s rules, the first note worth mentioning is Rule 2.2, which states:
2.2 GOAL LINE - A white line shall be drawn two inches (2”) wide and between the goal posts to indicate the plane of the goal. It shall be designated as the goal line. Two poles measuring four feet six inches long (4’ 6”) shall run from the base of the posts until they meet behind the goal. The net shall be secured to the aforesaid poles, posts and top crossbar. A one inch (1”) by one inch (1”) line above and below the goal line will indicate the correct position of the goal posts. The back of the cross bar and posts shall be placed in line with the back edge of the goal line. A goaltender or player that intentionally positions the goal post(s) off the designated location as indicated above shall be assessed a delay of game penalty served by the in-home.
This doesn’t conclude anything coming out of Saturday, but it’s the basic area of Saturday’s late-game scenario, so figured we’d include. Plus, the pic is below, not above like mapped in the league’s rulebook for those interested.
3.1 GOAL CREASE DIMENSIONS
Around each goal shall be a plainly marked circle known as the goal crease. This circle shall be marked by using the midpoint of the goal line as the center and drawing a circle around that point with a radius of nine feet three inches (9’ 3”).
The circle shall continue until it reaches a point of intersection with a straight line that runs parallel with the goal line one-foot (1’) from the point of the base of the goal. The width of the goal crease line shall be five (5”) inches. The crease shall then run in a straight line parallel to the end boards.
Next, Rule 4.1:
4.1 NETS - The poles, posts, and crossbars shall be fitted with a cone shape netting of not more than one and one - halfinch (1 1/2”) mesh. Nets must be adjusted so as to permit the ball to pass completely through the imaginary plane of the goal at any place. League regulation game posts must be painted red with no paint chipping. Team sponsorship logos/markings may be displayed on the posts subject to League approval.
This is the first instance in the rules that reference an “imaginary plane”, and further yet, an “imaginary plane of the goal at any place” even. Rules 54 & 54.1 give us more detail on what dictates an actual goal in the NLL.
Rule 54: GOAL SCORED DEFINITION
A goal is scored when the ball passes from the front completely through the imaginary plane formed by the rear edges of the goal line, the goal posts and the crossbar of the goal, regardless of who supplied the impetus. In the event that the goal is knocked over or excessively dislodged at the discretion of the official, the official will stop play immediately.
54.1 GOAL NET INADVERTENTLY MOVED - If the goal is inadvertently moved by contact from a defensive player or goalie and the offensive team is in possession and in position for a shot on goal, the officials will not stop play provided the goal has not been excessively dislodged until either the defensive team gains possession or the scoring attempt has ended. The plane of the goal does not move, it is an automatic goal providing the ball goes through the plane of the goal. (Refer to rule 93.4).
Rule 93.4 is all about intentionally moving the net, which never happened here, but the rest of this rule confirms why Saturday’s stripes disallowed Teat’s goal-tying attempt.
A goalie’s white goal line, while a good guide to judge if a goal is, well, a goal, isn’t actually that.
The league’s 2022-23 rulebook defines a goal as, “…when the ball passes from the front completely through the imaginary plane formed by the rear edges of the goal line, the goal posts and the crossbar of the goal, regardless of who supplied the impetus.” That’s directly from Rule 54. So whether the net (defined in Rule 4.1 above) is sitting perfectly on the goal line, or someone bulldozed it a dozen or more feet away and turned it 45 degrees (which might actually be deemed excessive, but you get what we’re going for), that imaginary line is what a shooter needs to have their shot pass (or cross) completely through in order to score an actual goal.
Jeff Teat, New York Riptide (Photo: Evan Bernstein)
So, from looking at Teat’s late attempt, not only does his shot never cross the actual goal line (not that that matters much), it never passes the imaginary plane either, which is what officials need to see in order to confirm a good goal as per the rules that govern game play.
Scigliano does push the net a smidge further back while trying to stop Teat’s shot, but whether you use the original spot the net was moved to (when Scigliano first fell backwards into the net after stopping Lomas) or the slightly shoved back second (when he knocked it a bit again vs. Teat), it doesn’t appear the ball ever crosses that imaginary plane.
Based on the league’s rules, it was not a goal. The refs got it right.
Below, check out video starting from the penalty Brodie Merrill was punished for on, you guessed it, Teat, all the way to the referee confirming the shot was not an NLL-approved goal.