Understand possession and offsides

When the faceoff is being fought for, a teams attackmen must be being the offensive restraining line and a teams defender must be behind the defensive restraining line. When possession is gained by either team, both attackmen and defencemen may move toward midfield, but both teams must have three players above midfield and four defenders behind midfield.Offsides. Defensive offsides occurs when there are fewer than four players for one team behind their midfield line. Offensive offsides occurs when there are fewer than three players for one team above their midfield line.Defenders can move passed midfield and attackmen can move behind it so long as another player stays behind or in front of midfield in their stead. This allows for the possibility of a defender carrying the ball up passed midfield, say, if a midfielder stays back to act as a defender.