NY Metro ISOA News

NCAA Substitutions

by John Puglisi, NISOA National clinician (provisional) and NISOA local assessor.

Apparently, there is still confusion about substitutions in the last five minutes of a match. From Cliff McCrath:

Not sure how 'inconsistency' slipped into the situation. Rule 3.6.2. is explicit: If the LEADING team makes a substitution the clock stops. No debate. It doesn't matter whether the losing team initiates substitutions or is substituting on its own or chooses to substitute at the same time…the minute a substitute from the LEADING team substitutes the clock stops. Rule 3.6.3. is equally clear: It addresses the issue of either team substituting when neither is LEADING…i.e. a tied game: the clock does not stop. If there is any issue whatsoever it may relate to the fact that the committee didn’t add a 3.6.4. (before the current one) and separate the tie situation from the reference to the 'losing' coach. When the rule was introduced the committee believed it was clear enough to include both the tie and the losing coach reference in one rule. If it will help we’ll separate the two in the 2010-11 book. Once again, if either team is not leading i.e. 'winning' the game the clock is not stopped on any substitution. If one team is leading and that team substitutes during the last five minutes of the second period only the clock stops…regardless whether the losing team substitutes.

My best to all and I hope this helps.

C. Cliff McCrath, Secretary-Rules Editor NCAA Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 9:23 am and is filed under Instruction with keyword(s) rules. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or right-click and copy this location to trackback from your own site.