How to Choose Womens Lacrosse Sticks (2022)

With many different brands and models of women’s lacrosse sticks on the market, how can we determine what makes one stick better than another?

Factors to Consider

1. Cost
2. Head Shape & Pocket Structure
3. Shafts

The Cost of Lacrosse Sticks

Let’s be honest – women’s lacrosse sticks are more expensive than men’s without a clear reason (as are all women’s items in general). Adding up everything you wear from goggles to cleats, to the different components that make up your stick, the overall cost stacks up quite high compared to the overall cost of other sports.

So where can you cut costs? For beginners, low-priced starter sticks are a good choice. As passion and skills grow, replace each component with heads and shafts made of material better suited for durability – to stave off the cost of replacement as long as you can.

Where you shouldn’t scrimp is in your pocket, as it poses the greatest threat and the biggest enhancement to your game over any other accessory. Pockets are easily deemed illegal, and practice with a pocket unsuited for the way you play will hold you back in skill development. There’s a wide variety of pockets that can be used in women’s lacrosse, and they can all be found here.

Head Shape and Pocket Structure

As a general rule in stringing, the depth of the pocket will match the depth of the offset in the sidewall. Choose a head that matches your preferred pocket depth.

The position you play can affect this choice, too. More flexible sidewalls are preferred by draws as they aid in picking up groundballs, movement and face-offs.

Shaft Differences

Consider all of these difference and how they affect they way you play:

• material: aluminum or composite
• angle: straight shaft or angled
• grip: texture on the shaft and comfortability of hand placement

How to Choose Complete Lacrosse Sticks (2022)

Having the right lacrosse stick, or “crosse” in legal terms, is essential. There are many different lacrosse sticks on the market, and likewise, a lot to learn and play with in order to make an informed decision.

A complete lacrosse stick is made up of a shaft, a head, and a pocket. Finding the right fit for each component requires experimenting with what’s out there.

Factors in Choosing Lacrosse Sticks

1. Position
2. Material Quality
3. Level of Experience
4. Price

Lacrosse Sticks by Position

We dive deeper into lacrosse sticks used by different players in this blog. If you’re just starting to learn lacrosse, the main difference is the length of the shaft which essentially denotes if a player is on defense or attack. Defense players are called “long poles”; the overall length of their stick must fall between 70″-72″. Players on the offense, or “attack”, use sticks between 40″-42″. The head must fall between 10″-12″, and is included in the aforementioned legal lengths of a complete stick.

Goalies can use either a long or short shaft, but must use a goalie head with a different face shape. The rest of the guys are basically divided between attack and defense, but which kind of lacrosse sticks they use varies. Faceoff players are generally included with attack and use short shafts. A middie may use a long or a short stick, depending on which side of the game they play. A middie on defense is called a “long stick middie”.

Lacrosse Sticks by Experience

Beginner Level

Beginners in lacrosse start with a short lacrosse stick because it’s easier to handle than a long pole, and better suited to the development of stick skills. This is extra important with kids because short sticks are safer, posing less risk to others and themselves.

At first, tight pockets aid in developing ball-handling skills. A fresh pocket will break in and eventually “bag out”. A beginner might discover they prefer a baggier pocket and learn to feel when their pocket needs attention.

Intermediate Level

Once players know their basics and find their home with the attack, defense, or somewhere in between, it’s time to pay attention to nuance. Players naturally gravitate to a preference in manufacturer as they practice with consistency.

Getting out of your comfort zone at this level may look like trying a totally different lacrosse stick from an unfamiliar manufacturer. Trading lacrosse sticks with one of the other guys on the team during practice is common for the sake of expanding general knowledge.

Advanced Level

Once habits are solidified, a player is not likely to deviate from their comfort zone. After sticking by their setup for years, pros usually become sponsored by the manufacturer they rep on the field. Still, a lot of innovation happens in lacrosse equipment, and trying out what’s on the cutting edge is always worth a shot – even if it’s just for fun.

Complete Stick Cost

Major lacrosse stick manufacturers like Warrior, STX, Maverik, and Nike sell fully-assembled complete sticks, with factory-strung pockets in the head ready to play. Complete sticks “out-of-the-box” range from around $49.99 – $199.99. A complete lacrosse stick can have a decent sale price, and low cost should definitely be a priority for beginners. Whatever is on sale is a great starter stick – because don’t forget, these things break all the time.

As a player’s ability advances, they better individualize their complete lacrosse stick, assembling a custom build for a better sum from the whole of its parts.

Factory-strung pockets simply can’t withstand the game and will need to be replaced with a hand-strung pocket. A coach or fellow player might have stringing skills to share with the team, or stringing services like us are here to help guide any player to the best choice at the fairest price.

Complete Mens Lacrosse Sticks for Each Position

To learn how mens lacrosse sticks differ takes handling them for yourself, as the devils in these details can be felt much easier than they can be articulated. Through reading, you can begin to understand which differences exist between lacrosse sticks and why. Major differences between sticks in men’s lacrosse relate to how they are meant to be used in a game. Basically, different positions require different attributes of their lacrosse sticks.

Attackmen & Middies

Offensive players are called attackers; their main job is scoring points with short shafts. This requires speed and precision to maneuver to the opponent’s crease and make quick cuts between other players, and accuracy and swiftness in shooting.

For this reason, attack players consider flexibility and kick point in addition to weight of their shaft. Flexibility refers to how much the material can physically bend as a player passes or shoots the ball from their stick. Kick point refers to a spot on the length of the shaft where the bend is most accentuated.

Attack players commonly choose shafts made of lighter materials to considerably lessen the overall weight of their complete lacrosse stick. The effect of a “light” head is as likely to make a difference as the color of it. But with shafts, it matters enough to make the sale. Aluminum alloy is one of the lightest materials available, but it’s also the cheapest. Seeing as how we’re talking about one of the most contact-heavy sports in the world, cheap shafts don’t last very long. But with a lower sale price, they’re great for kids just starting their youth lacrosse career.

Recommended Shafts:

Nike Vandal, ECD Carbon 3.0, Maverik HyperLite

Recommended Heads:

Epoch Z1, Maverik Optik 3.0, ECD Mirage 2.0

Recommended Pockets:

Pro+, The ONE, ECD Replica

FOGOs

For the most part, FOGOs take a page from the attacker’s book – take everything we said about attack shafts, and just copy and paste it for FOGOS. Same goes for overall face shape, but material composite of the head is a bit different. FOGOs learn to execute a lot of force in one quick blast during a faceoff, and sometimes all that force gets driven into the ground. For this reason, they need a flexible material that can warp in the moment and shapeshift back to neutrality.

Recommended Shafts:

Nike Vandal, Maverik A1, STX Sc-Ti X+

Recommended Heads:

StringKing Mark 2F, ECD Weapon X, STX Duel III

Recommended Pockets:

Pro+, Faceoff Pocket

Defense and LSMs (Long Stick Midfielders)

Defensemen use their lacrosse stick to deliver tough checks and to intercept or block passes and shots on the goalie. In this game, defense players are literally referred to by their lacrosse sticks, AKA the “long poles”. Their lacrosse sticks are literally much longer than those used by other fielders, between 52 and 72 inches.

For playing defense, a heavier, more rigid shaft material with a low kick point helps to compensate for the overall length of their complete lacrosse stick. Some other general recommendations for defense are wider face shapes and high pockets.

Recommended Shafts:

ECD Carbon 3.0 60″, STX Sc-Ti X 60″, StringKing Composite 2 PRO 60″

Recommended Heads:

Maverik Tank 2.0, STX Hammer 900, Warrior QX-D

Recommended Pockets:

Pro+ (High Pocket), Inner-Lock, Sniper (High Pocket)

Goalies

Goalies are snowflakes, and they have the most options when it comes to choosing the parts that make up their stick. They have a larger range of stick sizes (40″ – 72″), but their options for heads are much more controlled. Goalie heads are much larger and wider than others, with little variation in face shape. They use deep, wide pockets strung to absorb energy from an incoming shot. If anybody on the field wants a baggy pocket, it’s probably the guy in the net. Softness and break-in time are big concerns for goalies when choosing mesh items.

Recommended Heads:

Warrior Nemesis 3, ECD Impact, STX Eclipse 2

Recommended Pockets:

G-Pro, Pappy 

For softer mesh, try ECD’s Impact Goalie Mesh. For harder mesh, go with the base Jimalax Semi-Hard

The most frequent questions we hear from our customers are “What is the best head?” and “What head should I buy?” We are here to help, whether you’re buying your first head, or you’re experienced and looking to try something new.

Continue reading “The Stylin’ Strings Buyer’s Guide to Choosing a Lacrosse Head” »