The NCAA men’s lacrosse rules committee announced its approved rules changes for the 2011 season, most notably introducing a new penalty system for players targeting an opponent’s head.

The new rule allows officials to issue one-, two- and three-minute, non-releasable penalties when a player deliberately initiates contact with an opponent’s head or neck with any part of his body or stick.

“The committee strongly believes targeting the head and neck area has no place in lacrosse,” UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman, the committee’s secretary-rules editor, stated in a memo dated Sept. 29. “These types of fouls must be penalized severely, and this rule accomplishes that goal.”

The new rule is the latest in a series of initiatives undertaken by lacrosse leaders to make the game safer, specifically regarding head injuries and concussions. Click here for more on US Lacrosse’s efforts in sport science and safety.

The memo also makes reference to several procedural changes regarding faceoffs, including the return of the “set” call before an official blows the whistle and placing some limitations on a player’s ability to clamp the ball to better define the withholding call.

Among “future considerations” the committee said it will make on faceoffs is eliminating the motorcycle grip, which has become the prevailing method of facing off for many of the game’s top specialists at the position.

Click here to read the memo in its entirety, with all rules changes for the 2011 season and the rationale behind each.