Jesse Hubbard on Lacrosse Shooting Strategy

Jesse Hubbard

Major League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer explains how he uses deception

By Craig Haley
PlaySportsTV Managing Editor

With all the speed, all the power, all the raw athleticism, who knew lacrosse could be a game of chess?

Such a showdown of wits can occur between a lacrosse goalie and a shooter.

Jesse Hubbard, Major League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer, has won many of his one-on-one battles with goalies. Sure, Hubbard has to fend off defensemen flying at him from all directions, but when he works his way into shooting space, scoring goals can come down to outsmarting the goalie.

“The best finishers are the guys who sell the shot with their bodies,” Hubbard says. “They don’t just fake with their stick, they actually sell the fake with their body. They look low, they shoot high.

“I teach young players,” Hubbard adds, “to just hit net and don’t give away the shot with your eyes or your body. If you’re going to shoot low, don’t drop your shoulders down and look down. If you’re right on top of the goalie, usually you beat him to part of the net even if he’s baiting you.”

Hubbard, who before his MLL career helped Princeton University win three straight NCAA Division I titles from 1996-98, really does carry a big lacrosse stick. The attack player is comfortable at lacrosse shooting all over the field.

“Inside shooting is more deception and using your body to throw off the goalie,” Hubbard says. “It’s really more of a quick wrist snap rather than a body rotation and a big windup. A lot of players in tight, they tend to hang their stick too much. I like to keep the stick kind of right into my body and the stick right on my helmet, so I don’t leave any room for a defenseman to check down. Then it’s usually a high-to-low finish if you have enough net to shoot at.

“Inside, most of your moves or your goals are going to go to be off a cut. Catching is probably the most important thing. A lot of those crease guys, they don’t have big shots, but they catch any balls that are thrown to them. They can handle it well enough to redirect it into the cage.

“Outside shooting is obviously more about getting velocity on the ball as well as turning your body enough to where you’re hiding the stick from the goalie so he can’t see the ball as it’s released. A lot of that comes with just practice. It’s kind of like a batter hitting the baseball or a hockey player hitting the slapshot or even a golfer, a lot of it is just how you transfer the energy of your body, rotating into the stick and through the ball. So it starts with the basic windup for the shoulders and core and ends with the wrist snap.”

As lacrosse goalies learn deception at younger ages, they often cover the pipe when the ball is coming up from one of the sides of the net. According to Hubbard, this is an example of a shooter having to figure out the goalie’s strategy. The goalie could be trying to trick the shooter into believing the rest of the net is open, when he actually is angling himself for a save.

“If I’m dodging from this wing and I’m coming around and I’m getting angles, I’m thinking of two things,” Hubbard says, “I’m thinking about where the most net is in terms of what the goalie’s doing. I’m also trying to figure out is the goalie baiting me or not. That’s very important, especially at the higher levels. Normally, if you see a lot of net, you should shoot there. But the better goalies tend to show you net and then they overcompensate and a lot of times you’ll be fooled. If I’m dodging like this, and the goalie has already dropped, maybe I’m thinking he’s baiting me to go high. So a good thing to do would be to come around and maybe show high but shoot low.”

A youth lacrosse coach can incorporate shooting strategy into his team’s training. It’s worked for Jesse Hubbard.