When you are trying to figure out how long a game of lacrosse takes you first need to be sure of what league or division you are going to watch or play in. This is because the rules are different for each association. However, with that being said, let’s take a look at how long the average lacrosse game takes.
The average lacrosse game has 60 minutes of regulation time. This is broken up into 4 quarters of 15 minutes each. Between those quarters, you have a 2-minute break except at halftime where you have a 10-minute break. Timeouts add up to 4 minutes. This means that you can expect a lacrosse game to take about 78 minutes.
| Skill Level | Quarters | Average Time (Real-time) |
| Professional | 4x 12-minute quarters | 65 minutes without overtime |
| College | 4x 15-minute quarters | 78 minutes without overtime |
| High School | 4x 12-minute quarters | 65 minutes without overtime |
| Youth | 4x 8-minute quarters | 50 minutes without overtime |
Lacrosse Game Overview
Before we get into the details of this article, I first want to go over the structure of what the structure of a lacrosse game looks like. Now, because each competition and league has different rules and times, we will not be giving exact times in the section. Rather, we are just going to highlight the structure of the timing in a lacrosse game.
- Quarters: Every lacrosse game is broken down into quarters. It is very rare for a lacrosse game to be broken down into only two halves.
- Halftime: The break between the second and third quarter is known as half-time. This is where the coaches get to spend more time with the players while they rest. Also, the crowd should use this time to get snacks and drink. Maybe, this time should also be used for restroom breaks.
- Timeouts: Each competition or league has its own set of rules. College lacrosse allows you to take 2 timeouts per half while the premier lacrosse League allows you to take 3 timeouts per game.
- Overtime: If the teams are tied after regulation time then they will go into overtime. The rules for overtime can depend on the competition or league. With that being said, most overtimes in lacrosse are sudden death.
With all of that out of the way, we can now jump into discussing how long a lacrosse game takes. We are going to do this by telling you how long each game takes within each division or league. So, let’s get straight into it.
How Long Premier Lacrosse Games Take
The Premier Lacrosse League is relatively New. However, they still play by the basic lacrosse rules. Well, there are slight differences here and there in terms of the size of the field and the distance of the goals. The time has also changed. Let’s take a look
The premier lacrosse League has a regulation time of 48 minutes. This is broken down into four 12-minute quarters. Each team has a limit of three timeouts per game, so, you can say 4 minutes in total. If you include all the breaks between quarters, it all adds up to roughly 65 minutes per game.
If at the end of regulation time the teams are still level on points then they will enter overtime. The overtime is 12 minutes and the first team to score wins. So, if a game goes into overtime you are looking at about 78 minutes per game. We did add a 1-minute break there.
How Long College Lacrosse Games Take
College lacrosse is where young players make their name before moving on to the big leagues. The rules of college lacrosse are what we use as a foundation to explain what the rules are for professional lacrosse. This is because they are very similar. With that being said, let’s take a look at how long a lacrosse game takes.
In college lacrosse, there are four quarters and each quarter takes 15 minutes. In between each quarter, there is a two-minute break. However, between the second and third quarter is half-time and this is where the players will take a 10-minute break. Add up the 3 timeouts and a college lacrosse game takes 74 minutes.
If there is no winner at the end of the game, you will enter overtime. This is sudden death. When the game goes to extra time there will be periods of 4 minutes until a team finally scores. The first team to score wins so it is hard to say how long this would make the game take.
How Long High School Lacrosse Games Take
Most College lacrosse players are scouted while they are in high school. You can say that this is where it all begins for professionals. However, high school lacrosse is not played with the same intensity as it is played within college. And so, the times are also different. The structure of the time stays the same though. So, let’s take a look.
High School lacrosse games consist of 4quarters of 12 minutes each. There are approximately 2 minutes between each quarter except at halftime. This is where the players take a 10-minute break. If you include the stop-start whistle, you are looking at roughly 65 minutes for a full game of regulation time.
If there is no winner by the end of regulation time the teams will go into overtime. This consists of periods of 4 minutes each. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say how long a game will take if it goes to extra time. This is because the teams will play until one of the teams finally scores a goal.
How Long Youth Lacrosse Games Take
Youth lacrosse games are very similar to high school lacrosse games. The only difference in the rules is how long the games take and that is exactly what we are going to take a look at in this section. So, let’s get into it.
A youth lacrosse game has 32 minutes of regulation time. This is broken up into quarters of 8 minutes long. There is a two-minute break between quarters and a 10-minute break at halftime. This brings the total regulation time to about 46 minutes. This is by far the shortest out of all the leagues mentioned in this article.
Much like with high school lacrosse, you have to consider overtime and again, it is hard to give an exact time for this. Each overtime period lasts up to 4 minutes and the game will end when there is a winner. Overtime is generally a sudden death.
What To Expect During A Lacrosse Game
In a game of lacrosse, your goal is to get the ball into the back of the net. Well, your goal should be to at least assist your team in getting as many goals as possible.
At the same time, you will need to try and prevent the other team from scoring goals. This can be really difficult and you can expect to have to keep the intensity at which you play at a high. If you don’t do this, the opposing team will run right past you or you won’t be able to get past the opposing team while attacking.
A game of lacrosse is intense. You will most probably keep running until the game is over or at least until you take a break between each quarter.
You can expect to play for four quarters. The duration of each quarter depends on what league you are in or what the rules of your association state.
Final Thoughts
That brings us to the end of this article. It is easy to give a broad blanket statement regarding how long a lacrosse game takes. We tried not to do that. Our goal was to let you know how long a game takes in each of the major divisions. Hopefully, this article has answered all of your questions.