Anzar girls soccer coach Deric McLean couldn’t recall a time in
his life where he’s been as mad as he was after the Hawks’ 2-1 loss
on the road at Soledad on Friday, and it had little to do with his
team losing.
Soledad – Anzar girls soccer coach Deric McLean couldn’t recall a time in his life where he’s been as mad as he was after the Hawks’ 2-1 loss on the road at Soledad on Friday, and it had little to do with his team losing.
Almost nothing went right for Anzar from the minute it arrived for what it thought was a 5:30pm start time.
“The game got changed to 4 and nobody told us,” McLean said. “The ref threatened that if we weren’t on the field in one minute, we’d have to forfeit the game.”
With little time to get stretched out, the Hawks fought hard through a physical game that McLean said was loosely officiated by the one referee.
The Aztecs took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but 15 minutes into the second half Anzar’s Alex Brown scored when she headed in a corner kick by Leah Jimenez to make it 1-1.
The score remained tied until there were about 10 minutes left in the game when Soledad scored a goal when it appeared to be offside, but it wasn’t called.
“She was at least five feet offsides,” McLean said. “With a one-ref system, I can be a little lenient, but that was obvious.”
Adding to McLean’s contempt with the game was the extremely physical nature. One of his top players, senior Sara Chatley, was hospitalized with an ankle injury, which was diagnosed as a severe sprain that will likely end her season.
Several other injuries, including a concussion, were suffered by Hawks players.
“This is just a general disregard to the game that I’ve never seen. I’ve never seen a ref so disinterested in the game,” McLean said of the official who also shortened the game by eight minutes so he could arrive on time at his later assignment. “I don’t have a team that can afford to lose our stars. I don’t have a team that’s deep enough.”
