String Man Down Defense

This zone is more popular at the earlier stages of lacrosse development.

This name String arises because the defender in the middle (#5) is covering a straight line much like he is being pulled up and down by a single string. 

This is a very simple man down defense to run as it just requires players to honor their zone.  The player in the middle has to cover a lot of ground moving up and down and may also need a little courage as he could be in the line of some shots.

The idea is to have one defender responsible for the middle of the field while being supported by 4 defenders around him.

This defense can be easily manipulated by an offense who understands how to overload parts of a zone, attack the seams and move the ball with a lot of efficiency.

But at the levels where the kids are learning this can be a great zone to start with to teach the fundamentals.

In this man-down defense you do not pursue the ball behind, but the string man is responsible to stop an opponent driving the crease from X.