Tournament Rules

• Every team must have a coach at least 18 years old on the sideline at all times.
• All players must be on the team’s registration form before the tournament begins. Falsifying a player’s age disqualifies the team. Proof of age (player card, birth certificate, or passport) must be available at check-in.
• Rosters freeze at check-in: 3–6 players per team, 3 on the field at a time. Fielding more than 6 players in any game disqualifies the team. A player may appear on only one roster per event.
• A team needs at least 2 field players to start or continue, or the game is a forfeit.

Age divisions: High School Girls (8/1/2006–7/31/2010) · 6/7/8 (8/1/2010–7/31/2013) · 4/5 (8/1/2013–7/31/2015).

• Shin guards and soccer shoes (cleats or flats) are required — no football or baseball cleats. No jewelry or piercings. Casts may be allowed at the referee’s discretion if hard casts are padded.
• Field: 35 yards long by 20 yards wide. Goals are 4 ft high by 6 ft wide.
• Goal box: 8 ft wide by 6 ft deep, directly in front of the goal. Any part of the ball or a player’s body on the line counts as inside the box.

• Goal box: no player may play the ball inside the box, though players may move through it. A defender touching the ball in the box concedes a penalty kick; an attacker touching it there gives the defense a goal kick. A ball that comes to rest in the box is a goal kick for the defense.
• Scoring: a goal may be scored from a touch on the offensive half of the field.
• No offside in 3v3.
• No slide tackling. Players may slide to play the ball, but no contact with an opponent.
• Heading is allowed.
• 5-yard rule: on all dead balls, defenders must be 5 yards from the ball. If the goal area is closer than 5 yards, the ball is placed 5 yards from the goal-area line.
• Kick-ins, not throw-ins: the ball is kicked in from the sideline and goal line.
• Indirect: all kick-ins, free kicks, and kick-offs. Direct: corner kicks and penalty kicks.
• Goal kicks may be taken from any point on the end line, outside the goal box.
• Penalty kicks are awarded when, in the referee’s judgment, an infraction nullified a scoring chance. Taken from midfield with all players behind the halfway line; if no goal, the defense restarts with a goal kick. PKs are not live balls.
• Substitutions happen on any dead ball, called on by the referee, entering and exiting at midfield only.
• Uniforms: teams may wear their own matching jerseys; otherwise LPFC provides pinnies. On a color conflict, the away team (listed second) changes or wears pinnies.

Two 12-minute halves with a 2-minute halftime, or the first team to lead by 12 goals — whichever comes first. A coin toss sets direction and possession. No timeouts. Pool-play games tied after regulation end in a tie (playoffs go to overtime). The referee keeps official time and may act against deliberate delay.

Points: Win = 3 · Tie = 1 · Loss = 0.

If teams are level on points after pool play, seeding is decided by the steps below, in order — the first that separates them settles it.

1. Head-to-head — who won the pool game between the tied teams, if played. Applies when exactly two teams are tied; with three or more level, this step is skipped.
2. Goal differential — goals for minus goals against across all pool games.
3. Fewest goals allowed — across all pool games.
4. Most goals scored — across all pool games.
5. PK shootout — three players per team alternate penalty kicks; the higher score after the first round wins. If still tied, the same three continue in sudden death until one team scores unanswered.

Playoff overtime: a sudden-death period of up to 3 minutes, coin toss for direction; first goal wins. If scoreless, a shootout decides it (coin toss for order) using the three players on the field at the end of overtime, in the same alternating format. If a team finished a player short due to a red card, a remaining roster player may take a kick; if none remain, a field player may kick twice.

• Forfeit if a team cannot start within 10 minutes of kickoff, or if an ineligible player participates. A forfeit is scored 4–0.
• No protests. All games are final; referee and tournament-director decisions are final.
• Games not played for any reason are recorded as a 0–0 tie.

Players and coaches must know and play by the laws of the game and be respectful to all coaches, teammates, opponents, and officials. Profane or abusive language will not be tolerated.

• Yellow cards: two in one game ejects that player or coach for the game and suspends them the next game; if the player was on the field, the team plays a player short for the rest of that game. Three yellows across the tournament means a one-game suspension.
• Red cards: a player or coach may be ejected for continual disobedience or a sending-off incident; if the player was on the field, the team plays a player short for the rest of that game. The ejected person is suspended the following game and must leave the immediate playing area.
• Spectators: cheer positively; do not coach or address players or officials negatively. Referees and officials may eject any player, coach, or parent. If an ejected person refuses to leave, the game is forfeited to the opponent. Fighting, unsportsmanlike behavior, or violence brings automatic removal from the complex for the day.

See also the Codes of Conduct. LaPorte FC has a zero-tolerance policy for Code of Conduct infractions; the posting of those codes is the warning.

Officials may modify, shorten, reschedule, or cancel games for weather or field conditions; no protests are allowed and entry fees are non-refundable. If the tournament is canceled before the first scheduled game, 50% of the entry fee is retained to cover startup costs and 50% is refunded. No refunds are given once the tournament begins, or if a team withdraws after being accepted.