Tony Meola still has nightmares about the stampede shot.



It’s July 1995, and Meola is standing between the posts for the USISL’s Long Island Rough Riders, who are in the middle of what will be a championship-winning season. Before this match — against the Cape Cod Crusaders — Meola’s coach, Alfonso Mondelo, had reminded him of a curious wrinkle or two in the league’s rules that year. Meola was about to get a taste of one of them.



At midfield, the referee’s whistle sounds when Long Island commits their seventh foul of the match. The ref collects the ball, trots it over to a mark in midfield, 35 yards from Meola. Quickly, a lone attacker lines up over the ball while all 19 other field players take up positions behind the center stripe.



The whistle blows again. The stampede is on. A Cape Cod attacker advances toward goal with the ball, followed by every other player, all chasing after him. The field rumbles as two...