LIZ CONANT WRITES ARTICLE FOR COACH AND ATHLETIC DIRECTOR MAGAZINE

Weston, Mass.—Liz Conant, Regis College head coach for women’s lacrosse and soccer, recently had her article published in the May/June 2011 issue of Coach and Athletic Director magazine. Conant is in her second year at Regis College, and concluding her first year as head coach of the two programs.

Conant’s article titled, “Implement A Zone Defense To Play At Your Pace”, is a how-to piece on implementing a zone defense to use in lacrosse.

She opens with a common debate within lacrosse circles on whether a zone defense allows players to “zone out”, or if used correctly can promote teamwork.

Regis College women’s lacrosse uses the “Meet and Greet” zone defense as a foundation, and is the defense that Conant further explains in her article.

In this particular type of zone defense, which gets its name from a defender meeting a mark as the player enters the zone, and defending them until they are in another teammates zone.

“A zone defense helps change the pace of the game, especially when your team is playing a faster opponent,” Conant states in her reason of why to play a zone defense.

In her five-section article, Conant covers: Why Play Zone, Zone Set-up Guidelines, Player Positioning, Zone Rules, and Zone Limitations.

Through each section Conant sets up how the seven-member defense should operate, and breaks down each position in the defense. She details that a key component to a successful defense is the “zone leader”. The zone leader or “third man” is positioned at the 8-meter mark, and directs teammates of attacks entering the crease.

Conant, in her first-year as women’s lacrosse head coach, uses the “Meet and Greet” defense because four of her starters are freshman, and only two have played lacrosse before.

”I believed that we would benefit from a structured defensive formation, in which all seven players worked together as a unit,” Conant states.

Conant, who played both soccer and lacrosse at the collegiate level, learned about this particular zone defense from Heidi Pike, her coach at Wheaton College.

Conant has learned how and when to change the zone defense depending on the attack formation of the offense, and credits Pike and her time as a graduate assistant at Springfield College for developing her teaching points.

In the zone rules section of Conant’s article she gives eight points of consideration. Conant states that defenders should have their heads on a swivel looking for attackers, to go with marks as they enter the 8-meter crease, and to collapse on threatening ball carriers.

Conant first joined Regis College as an assistant coach for both programs before she was elevated to head coach of both programs prior to the 2010 season. She led the women’s soccer team to a 3-15-1 record, and the women’s lacrosse program to its best varsity season record (4-12) in two years.