Shooting is the most important aspect of playing offense in lacrosse.  Teams win because they outscore their opponents, and for that to happen teams need to have effective shooters on attack. That is, teams need players that know when to shoot, when not to shoot, and how to make the best use of their shooting opportunities.

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One of the biggest mistakes that I see high school players make is that they try to shoot the ball as hard as they can every time they have possession.  While this may work some of the time, most of the time they drive the ball right into the goalie or miss the net completely. Shooting the ball hard is important, but equally important to being a goal scorer is shot placement and deception.

A field lacrosse goal is 6' x 6' - that's a lot of room to put a small ball into. The main obstacle of scoring is obviously beating the player standing in front of that 6' x 6' net - the goalie.  Once a player has developed a hard shot, the main tool he has in beating a goaltender is his ability to utilize deception.  Making a goalie think a shot is going one place and then putting it in another may sound pretty simple, but many players have problem executing this task.


Being able to utilize effective fake-out maneuvers while mimicking the shooting motion without actually releasing the ball from your stick is key to your ability to score goals.  Dynamic maneuverability is an invaluable asset in making the most effective use of your shot.  To be a good shooter, work on your fakes. 



After you are able to maneuver and fake with the ball, the next step is to build back any accuracy and velocity that you may have lost while learning to fake.  This takes some work.  When I was younger, I would spend countless hours in my back yard shooting, trying to hit certain spots on my practice net.  There were times when my neighbors would come out to ask me to stop because they couldn't handle the constant noise of a lacrosse ball hitting a goal post at midnight.  Like anything else, the only way to improve at shooting is to practice and maintain your dedication to developing skills.

So get out on a goal and work on it. Fake high, shoot low hard so that it is a habit and nothing is lost off your shot. Then switch it and fake low and shoot off hip.

When I coach players at the beginner level, I always recommend that they practice shooting in as many different ways as they can think of - right handed, left handed, underhanded, over-handed, behind-the-back, etc.  If you are able to shoot from any angle, you will be able to utilize deception to a greater extent, and a goalie will have to respect your abilities from all angles and no matter where you are on the field. You need have sound fundamentals before you can begin trying out multiple shooting methods though, so make sure you have mastered the basic overhand shot before you move on to more diverse shooting techniques. 

The most important thing to remember in a game is that your shot does not have to be 100 percent accurate all the time.  You don't need to make a perfect shot every time, you just need to make shots that are consistent, deceptive and on net so that they have a chance to beat the goalie and give your team a better chance to score and win.

Remember, a straight 100 mile an hour shot right at a goalie is almost always a waste since he is going to know where it is going and make a save.

Faking in the Open Field

Now that you have worked on being deceptive when you are shooting, you can work on being deceptive all over the field. There all different types of fakes and they all serve the same type of purpose - to "freeze the defense."

The most common fake is the pass fake.  Faking passes to other teammates while dodging gives you - the ball carrier - more time to make a play or a decision. Faking your pass also puts the defense in a difficult situation, as they will likely think the ball is being moved but really isn't. Almost always, if you fake a pass to the slide it will freeze your defender or even get him to move as if you made the pass. This will open up the attack zone for you to better maneuver. 



Faking a pass doesn't mean you have to throw a huge fake while dodging; we almost never want to break our wrists when we fake. Why? Because by not breaking our wrist, it gives us the opportunity to quickly move the ball to a teammate or for a shot. Just a slight fake can fool the defender.

Not only can you use our hands and stick when faking, but also use your body.  A great fake used by many top players is what we call a "look-back-fake." 

For instance, coming off a pick and looking back to the picker freezing his man as well as yours. Your head and eyes are also a huge part of faking.  Shot fakes from the outside--as simple as winding up pretending to shoot--will work too. This part only freezes the defense but sometimes your defense man will totally turn his body or lunge out at you giving you the opportunity to walk in or get your hands free to have a better shot from much closer.



If faking is not part of your game right now, work on it. Grab your stick and go in front of a mirror, without a ball, and work on throwing some fakes.

Faking will bring your game up to the next level, increase your goal production and help your team win games.

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In 3 Seasons on the Denver Outlaws, Matt Brown has scored 90 goals. 2006 was his most productive professional season with 38 goals and 7 assists for 45 points, best on the Outlaws and 4th best in the entire MLL.

Matt grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada and started playing lacrosse when some friends from his hockey team asked him to quit baseball and join them playing indoor lacrosse in the summer. It worked out well for Matt. He went on to play for the Burnaby Lakers for 6 years, with the Lakers competing in 6 Minto Cups and winning 3 in that time.

In 2001, Matt won the British Columbia Junior Lacrosse Association Scoring title, and played on St. Thomas Moore High School's first ever High School Lacrosse Championship team.

In what he calls the best thing to happen to him as a lacrosse player, Matt was then recruited to the University of Denver to play Division 1 lacrosse. He was a prolific goal scorer at Denver with 113 goals in 4 years, was named Great Western Lacrosse League rookie of the year, and was a two time All Great Western Lacrosse League selection.

The Arizona Sting of the NLL and the Denver Outlaws of the MLL both drafted him to play professionally, and he has played for both teams as well as for the Colorado Mammoth.

Matt has a Degree in Finance/Marketing and is a college lacrosse coach. He lives in Denver with his wife.