Lacrosse is a fast-paced team sport played by ten players (men) or twelve players (women), each of whom uses a netted stick (called the crosse) in order to pass and catch a very hard rubber ball with the aim of scoring goals, each worth one point, by propelling the ball into the opponent's goal. The team scoring the most points after four quarters, and overtime if necessary, wins. In NCAA men's lacrosse, the quarters are 15 minutes. In most high school lacrosse, quarters are 12 minutes long. In youth leagues, quarters are usually 8 minutes long.http://www.uslacrosse.org/the_sport/mens_rules.phtml. Under international rules, quarters are 20 minutes.http://intlaxfed.org/pdf/rules-2005.pdf In NCAA women's lacrosse, two 25 minute halves are played. Women's high school games consist of two 25 minute halves.http://www.uslacrosse.org/the_sport/womens_rules.phtml

Popular mostly in North America, lacrosse is one of the continent's oldest sports and the fastest growing sport at all levels – youth, high school, college, and professional. Lacrosse is especially popular in the northeastern part of the US and is Canada's national summer sport (although Canadians commonly play the box lacrosse variety of the game which is described below). It is expanding westward, with burgeoning lacrosse communities in Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, California, Oregon, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Minnesota.

In its modern form, men's lacrosse is played on a field of grass or artificial turf. Each team is composed of three attackmen, three midfielders, three defensemen, and one goaltender. In men's lacrosse, players wear protective equipment on their heads, shoulders, arms, and hands, as body-checking is an integral part of the game. Women's lacrosse is played in a similar manner except with two additional midfielders per team. Players of women's lacrosse need only wear protective eyewear (except for the goaltender, who wears the same protective equipment as a men's goaltender throat guard, chest protector, etc.), as contact is not permitted apart from minor stick-checks.

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