If you’ve invested in a high-quality pair of soccer cleats, you’ll want to take very good care of them to make them last for as long as possible.
However, to get even more value for your money, you might even want to try using them for other sports like lacrosse.
Soccer cleats actually work surprisingly well in lacrosse matches and you can definitely get away with wearing them in competitive games. Although, you will need special artificial turf cleats if you’re playing lacrosse on artificial turf, as is often the case.
Soccer Cleats Can Be Great For Lacrosse
Let’s take a look at some of the features of soccer and lacrosse cleats that make them so compatible.
Studs
One of the most important parts of any pair of sports cleats is the set of studs that protrude from the sole. These studs are designed to give the player a greater level of grip on grass playing fields.
As the technology in sportswear has improved over the years, so too have the studs you’ll find on soccer cleats. In fact, there are several different styles of soccer cleats you can buy, each of which is suited better to different types of terrain. We’ll take a look at the 3 major categories of soccer cleats.
Firm Ground Soccer Cleats
These are the most common types of soccer cleats and they will feature either a set of molded studs or a set of bladed studs. Molded studs have a more conical shape and are great for digging into dry grass surfaces without getting stuck and holding the player back.
The same is true of bladed studs, which have a more irregular shape and allow the player to make quick changes in direction.
Soft Ground Soccer Cleats
These are the kinds of cleats that soccer players break out in wet weather conditions. The studs of these cleats often feature metal tips that help the player dig down into the mud with every step and minimize the risk of them slipping.
Soft ground cleats are a lot more cumbersome on dry surfaces because of the extra weight on the studs. However, this trade-off is definitely worth it when the terrain is wet and muddy.
Artificial Turf Soccer Shoes
The third main kind of soccer shoe is designed for artificial turf.
Artificial turf shoes will feature many more, much smaller studs than any other kind of soccer cleat. This is because the studs don’t need to dig as deep into the surface as they would on a grass field. Instead, these small studs provide much better traction on the surface of the field and allow players to remain quick and agile.
How Does This Apply To Lacrosse?
Now that we understand how these different kinds of studs are implemented in soccer, let’s think about how it would apply to a different sport like lacrosse.
The majority of lacrosse matches are held on grass-terrain and artificial turf playing surfaces. This is very similar to the kind of playing surface you’ll get in a soccer match, meaning that dry, wet, and artificial conditions all need to be planned for with different sets of studs and cleats. Similarly, the demands from players in soccer and lacrosse are surprisingly similar in terms of the best footwear for the job.
Lacrosse players spend most of the game moving with very little time standing in one place so lightness is key, just like it is in soccer. Similarly, lacrosse players need to be able to change direction quickly throughout a game to outmaneuver their opponents, just like with soccer.
However, one of the key differences between soccer and lacrosse cleats is to do with the level of ankle support. Soccer cleats, for example, have the ankle cut fairly low, offering players the wide range of movement that is required in the sport. Lacrosse cleats tend to have much higher ankles, which give the player more support around the joint and offer more stability.
Can You Wear Lacrosse Cleats For Soccer?
We’ve established that soccer cleats will perform pretty well on the lacrosse field so it makes sense that the same would be true the other way around, right?
Well, lacrosse cleats are actually completely unsuitable for soccer, primarily for safety reasons.
The main issue with lacrosse cleats for use in soccer is the presence of a toe stud. This is an extra stud towards the front end of the cleats that provides an extra level of traction and allows lacrosse players to stop themselves more quickly.
However, this is an incredibly dangerous thing to have in soccer games. Soccer is a sport where there is a lot of contact between players’ legs and feet. If this were to happen while players were wearing lacrosse cleats, the toe stud would do a lot more damage than any regular soccer cleats ever would.
Final Thoughts
What we’ve learned from this comparison is that soccer and lacrosse cleats are pretty similar in every way except one: the studs.
Both sports have similar maneuverability demands from players and so the various stud types you can get for both are pretty similar too. However, while you can use soccer cleats to play lacrosse, the same is certainly not true of the opposite.
At the end of the day, if you want to try lacrosse out but don’t want to spend a load of money on a new pair of lacrosse cleats, you can certainly get away with wearing soccer cleats instead.
Can you wear soccer cleats for other sports? What about American football, or baseball?
