by Spencer Weinbender
Staff Writer

It’s amazing. Not the sport of soccer. Not that Shoreline actually had a chance to go to the playoffs this year. And not even the excitement of the last game of the season. Amazing was the call that ruined it all.

SCC’s Mens soccer team’s final game of the 2007 season was dismantled by the most ridiculous job done by a referee that I have ever seen in my entire athletewatching career.

Referees are constantly reminded to be consistent and to control the pace of the game when calling a soccer match. In Shoreline’s loss to Edmonds, there was consistency in the form of one terrible call after.

The call that led to the eventual controversy was long overdue by about 10 minutes when a Shoreline forward was tripped by an Edmonds defender in the penalty box. The referee turned downfield and called a mere push-off with the arm, a foul on a Shoreline defender leaving us fans puzzled as to what game he could have possibly been watching.

Did he really just eye down our forward getting taken out in the box and not even flinch towards the whistle, and then make a horrible call that I would let a 7-yearold girl play through?

The call displayed the inconsistency of the head ref and left room for doubt when Shoreline fans booed the most important call of the match. The head referee ruled a goal on the game-tying penalty kick that was eventually ruled offside by the assistant referee, who was nearly 20 yards away from the play.

It was ruled that the ball did not hit the goalkeeper’s hand and just struck the crossbar. In actuality, the ball deflected off both the keeper along with the woodwork. I could see the play as clear as day from damn near the other side of the field, and that ball hit a piece of the Edmonds goalkeeper for sure.

As a goalkeeper and having experienced penalty kicks on several hundred accounts, the call made by the linesman was the worst call I’ve ever seen in my life.

Not long after the play, the nonstop antagonizing of the head referee by Shoreline players left him in a position he couldn’t control. The referee hid behind his red card that he gave to Shoreline defender Dan Hyseni and attempted to “control” the attitude of the players by waiting them out for nearly ten minutes. Not only does this stop momentum, but have you ever taken “a break” while running? It isn’t very fun to start up again is it?

Prior to bad calls, the game was moving at its own pace until that last 30 minutes of play. I can’t believe that in a college soccer game that adds a talented team to the playoffs, we are seeing such poor calls that crown the victor.

This game was a big deal to SCC, having been left out of the playoffs for as long as I can remember, the feeling of having it that close and then being taken away is such a heartbreaker.

Way to go refs.