By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — An evenly contested soccer match on June 17 between Appalachian FC and the Charlottetown Hops produced an abundance of cheers, jeers and raised eyebrows. The final result was a 3-2 win to the benefit of the Charlotte-based visitors.
Appalachian forward Jeremiah Luoma brought the 1,000-plus crowd to its feet in the 23rd minute with an angling break from the left side, drawing the Hops goalkeeper out before punching the ball past him, skipping along the turf and into the net to put the home side up 1-0.
The cheers quickly died just four minutes later when a controversial penalty kick was awarded to the Hops, successfully put into the goal by Jordan Da Costa to knot the score, 1-1, at the 27th minute.
The back and forth battle continued through the remainder of the first half and well into the second, the score remaining tied until the Hops’ Julien Sagnol pushed in a visitors’ tally in the 67th minute. Ten minutes later, Sasquatch & Co. responded in kind, London Williams emerging from a crowd to zip a worm-burner along the ground into the net from the near left side.
Nearly everyone in the stadium thought the match would end in a tie at 2-2 or go into an overtime period, but with the full 90 minutes having ticked off the clock and the referee allowing play continue into injury time, the Hops’ Mike Habel broke out of a congested pack to knock the ball into the Appalachian defended goal. Less than a minute later, full time was called with Charlottetown in the lead by the final margin.
Soccer fans, coaches and players never want to see a game adversely influenced by officiating decisions, but sometimes that is exactly what happens. In an effort to get control of a game that she was losing control of, as the match progressed the referee more readily handed out yellow cards. In total, there were eight yellow cards issued on the night, four from each team and, surprisingly, no send offs.
At two critical junctures, when the whistle blew and play stopped, the referee’s decision was directly opposite of what everyone else was thinking would be called. The first was the controversial penalty kick. At least everyone in the stadium rooting for Appalachian FC were shocked by the decision.
The second was late in the second half with Appalachian FC in possession and attacking down the right side. The App FC winger was in position to play the ball when a Charlottetown defender bowled him over, literally vaulting himself backwards into the attacking player. The referee apparently saw something else, because she penalized the Appalachian FC player.
The same attacking winger was involved in another controversial call a short while later. He deftly saved a ball from going out of the field of play as it neared the end line, but the out-of-position line judge called him out and offside, even though he had to go around a defensive player to reach the ball.
All of that said, the Sasquatch-led crew had a clear advantage in time of possession and multiple opportunities to score that simply missed.
After the game, Appalachian FC head coach Dale Parker said that when controversial calls go against you, you can’t let them take your attention away from the task at hand.
“Yes, there were decisions made by the referee that we didn’t agree with,” Parker said. “But you have to be resilient and not let them take you out of the game. The penalty kick that was awarded in the first half was particularly upsetting and it (disrupted) our play for the rest of the first half and maybe even part of the second half. Questionable decisions by a referee are going to happen. We have to be better in how we respond.
“We had several opportunities created with our attacking style of play,” added Parker. “We just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
