Man Down Defense: The 5 Man

Happy Sunday, Coach.

Welcome back to FCL’s Coaches Corner. Our quote of the day is from the post-game interview with Phillip Rivers following the Seahawks game in 2025.

A reporter asked what he hoped to pass on to his kids and high school players by coming out of retirement, and why he was willing to take on the challenge despite the real chance of failure.

I thought this was a powerful response…

Let’s rock,

Matt Dunn & Deemer Class

(Missed the last Coaches Corner? Catch up here.) 

Today’s Quick Links for Coaches:

• 🔒️ Defensive Coaching Clinic: The Approach Men’s (Link)

• 🎧 FCL Podcast: Stop Chasing Perfection & The Art Of Trainability (Link)

• 🧠 Some Outside Inspiration: The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy (Link)

• 🔥 A Webinar Freebie: Basic Practice Plan with Matt Dunn (scroll down)

This issue is supported by High School Nationals
A recruiting tournament for Women’s High School Teams

If you coach a high school women’s lacrosse team and are looking for a great way to get your team competition and exposure this summer, we strongly suggest applying for Nationals.

Year 1 brought 16 programs to Chase Fieldhouse with Maryland, Penn State, Yale, Johns Hopkins and 14 other college programs on the sideline evaluating.

Year 2 is June 29-30. Five guaranteed games, college coaches in attendance, media coverage and recruiting exposure for all players.

Please email [email protected] if interested in applying your team. Invites are being sent out this month.

🤓 The Principles Office
Man Down Defense: The “5-Man”

Man down defense is one of the more requested topics we get. It's also one of the harder ones to generalize, because execution depends heavily on who you're playing and what they're trying to do.

What we can do is walk through how the 5-man rotation works, why some teams prefer it over the traditional 4-man, and the decisions that shape how you run it.

Every decision in man down creates an exposure somewhere else. The question isn't how to eliminate that. It's deciding which exposure your unit is built to handle, and defending it consistently.

I/ Different types of rotations

The traditional way to play a 4-man rotation is to lock the crease with a short stick, and have the four poles rotate on the perimeter.

It's straightforward, but it concentrates a lot of pressure on those perimeter defenders.

In a 5-man rotation, no one is permanently locked to the crease. Crease responsibility shifts based on where the ball is. Typically, the backside defender helps in as the ball moves.

Other considerations are:

• Do you hold a shape and pass, carry and replace, or carry and rotate?

• How do you cover the crease when the ball goes through X?

• Pack it in or extend?

Some units play with consistent principles all the time, and others may deploy different looks strategically. Let’s look at a few examples.

II/ Carries above GLE: pass or carry?

In a 5-man, you have some foundational decisions to make. Do your defenders hold their shape and pass off ball responsibility, or do they carry and replace? Teams vary in the approach here.

Option 1: Holding shape and pass

By holding your shape, you are able to maintain the same responsibilities within your man down defense.

Some consider this the simpler way to play man down, but it has some gaps.

Savvy offensive players will step into the gap between the two defenders in an attempt to shoot or draw both defenders and force a rotation.

This method of man down requires precise communication and understanding of when and where to pass the on-ball responsibility. In my opinion, this strategy requires savvy defenders to execute well and feel out the gray.

You want to define passing points and technique here. Timing matters to ensure we don’t have two on the ball when passing.

Option 2: Carry and replace

When you carry and replace, you eliminate the chance for the offense to exploit a gap during carries.

This style clarifies on-ball responsibilities for the defense, but it has considerations of its own.

In order to effectively play this way, the defenders must be both connected, and fully understand each individual spot’s responsibility. Additionally, the offense gets a clearer view of what the defenders are doing here which helps with their decision making.

In the above clip of Loyola, when the top left defender switches spots with the on-ball defender, he seamlessly begins to help to the crease as the ball moves to the backside.

In addition to that, the now top left defender begins working back down towards the pipe to cover the backside.

III/ Ball moves through X: piston or lock crease?

In a 5-man rotation, we need to decide what the defense should do when the ball moves through X.

Will the backside defenders all help in and share crease responsibility, or will someone be designated to cover the crease?

Option 1: Lock crease and rotate (my preference)

By designating a player to cover the crease when the ball moves through X, you prioritize covering the most dangerous players. There is no question around crease custody.

Most defenses accomplish this through the backside base filling into the crease and the backside wing pulling down.

Now, we are even along the base when the ball is below GLE and 3v2 up top. Some call this a “W-shape” vs a “House” shape.

We trust our players to make a skip pass difficult, and to recover out should a skip pass make it though.

If there are two crease offensive players, the crease defender needs to get ball-side.

Option 2: Share the crease and “piston” to X

Pistoning shares crease responsibility among the backside defenders as the ball moves through X. It allows us to keep our shape better, but can leave ambiguity on the crease. I am personally not a fan of this, but some teams execute it well. I like clarity in crease coverage when the ball hits X.

Cuse does a nice job. It really requires great stance, timing and connection to execute.

IV/ Pack or extend?

Another tool you have at your disposal is pressure vs packing it in.

Packing it in protects the inside but concedes some outside shots and may allow feeders to shop.

Extending pressures the ball earlier but opens lanes behind your defenders.

Sometimes the preference might be based on your opponent. Otherwise, it could just be your preference of play. Personally, I love pressure as a strategic lever to pull on certain carries, players, passes, etc.

V/ Universal Principles

Regardless of which decisions you make, a few things hold across every scheme.

1. Play inside out

2. Assess the most threatening players

3. Skewer shooters through the shooting lane (HUGE)

4. Play sticks in the passing lane off ball

5. Be athletic and cover ground as a unit

6. Be deceptive when possible

7. Scout the crap out of them and take away the knowns

8. If you can disrupt, go for it. Ball pressure solves problems

VI/ A Final Note

There are many ways to run man down. What we've covered here are options, not prescriptions.

I've played and coached different styles across different seasons. Sometimes the look changed based on the offensive set we were facing.

Sometimes it changed based on what our personnel could actually execute. "When they do this, we're going to start in a 4-man and spit out into a 5-man on the carry" — that kind of adjustment is normal. I see many veteran coaches changing their styles year by year and unit by unit.

Best of luck this year and let us know what other topics would be helpful to have covered.

Until Next Time

Thanks for taking a trip down the hallway. If you are looking for a deeper dive, we have posted numerous videos on our Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels on this topic.

Stay tuned for more content all spring and email us at [email protected] with any questions and let us know your thoughts.

🔒 Defensive Coaching Clinic: The Approach
Men’s FCL Defense Coach Clinic

🚨 Webinar Freebie 🚨

This week’s freebie is from our webinar with Coach Matt Dunn. Coach Dunn delivered a webinar centered around how high school coaches can design and teach their base team defense.

It is an extremely insightful webinar where Coach Dunn dives into everything from standards to how to drill stickwork and on/off ball defense. He also dives into a framework for approaches and sliding.

We wanted to highlight a basic practice plan that Coach Dunn shared. He includes not only example drills for each block but also notes on points of emphasis.

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It includes over 40 college coach webinars, 150+ drills for offense, defense, and full-team compete, as well as sessions focused on schemes and strategies.

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