It looks like, from the way that rules are being tweaked for the upcoming collegiate women’s lacrosse seasons, that you’re going to see an awful lot of these:
Friends, we’re entering an era where, I fear, we’re going to see an insufferable number of green cards this season, which will be shown for one-minute releaseable penalties for physical, non-shooting fouls such as blocking, charging, illegal picks, pushing, tripping, and — a point of emphasis this season — “forcing through” players.
A few years ago, the accumulation of three such fouls in the midfield on any single phase of play yielded a green card — it was something I called the “water polo” foul, as it resembled an NCAA rule from the 1980s when the third defensive foul in a single opposing possession yielded a 30-second power play.
This led to coaches tweaking their defensive tendencies to not do a midfield ride, knowing that the same foul that would be called a green card on one side of the 35-yard stripe would be a common foul (unless it was a dangerous foul that warranted a two-minute yellow card).
Now, in the NCAA, green cards are going to be handed out for fouls occurring at any place on the field, with the exception of the critical scoring area.
While this exact regulation is not part of this spring’s NFHS rules package, it is notable that the green card was the sole subject of a May 6, 2025 point-of-emphasis memo issued by the federation.
As I sometimes like to say, green cards are likely to now be handed out like speeding tickets at the Indy 500.
Get used to it.