The intramural department has added lacrosse to the list of activities currently offered to Simpson College students this year.

Interest in getting the sport added to the roster has risen steadily throughout recent years. Participants eagerly willing to try the sport were excited for the new opportunity.

“I’ve seen it being played a lot on television and have always wanted to give it a try,” junior Brian Funk said. “It looks like it should be a lot of fun.”

With all the excitement circling around the sport, many were wondering the specifics of the game.

Normally a body-contact sport, the activity has been slightly modified to accommodate even novice players. The intramural version is based on college-level men’s teams, and the game is played with four continuous quarters of 15 minutes.

The teams consist of 10 players: three defensive players, three midfielders, three attack men and one goalkeeper. These players move the ball across the field with netted sticks trying to make the ball into goals located on opposite sides of the field.

Defense is played by utilizing stick and body checks against opposing players. The only person allowed to physically touch the ball is the goalkeeper.

“We made a few modifications to the rules to make it both a coed sport and a safe one,” Nicole Darling, assistant director of student activities, said. “Also, the time was shortened because the field is so large and the number of players is smaller.”

Time constraints have restricted the games to three separate intervals of eight minutes and team size was reduced to six players on the field, which allows for 11 members on a team.

The roles of the players were also restricted to two per side with one player that is able to play on both sides. Defensively, the game was restricted to stick checks to make the game safer as a coed activity and remove the need for pads.

When asked of any problems particularly upsetting with the introduction of the new activity, there was only one in general.

“With the grass being not the normal kind played on, it makes it harder for the crosses [sticks] to pick up the ball,” senior Jon Sukut, said. “So we had to add the exception of letting the players pick up the ball from the ground to put it in their nets.”

With reassurance that this would not deter from the competitiveness of the activity, lacrosse presented itself as a promising upcoming event.

The first two-day intramural lacrosse tournament took place Sunday, Sept. 20 and Tuesday, Sept. 22.