Mens Soccer Coach

[Bleacherbutt]

It was one of those situations where the referee had two clear cut options: let the advantage play and not bring the ball back if the challenge fizzles because it was directly inside the box toward the near post and whatever happened was going to have to stand, or not take the chance and call the PK. The referee really had no middle ground to let it ride out and make a more studied call were it somewhere in the midfield. It happened so fast at a spot on the field where a decision one way or the other had to be made in a split second.

Basically UD played a through ball to the left near post to a guy making a run inside the box. The UD attacker took the ball directly on goal and was about 10 yards out at the left post with only the keeper to beat and a defender behind him. With his last dribble touch, he pushed the ball maybe 2-3 yards out in front of him. With the ball no longer directly on his foot, an SLU defender chopped him down with a leg in front of his stride. The SLU keeper was not going to get the ball. The UD guy was either going to get it put a point blank shot on goal that was likely going to find the net or it was going to roll past the endline. From my vantage point, Obviously the referee decided the defender impeded a chance good enough to award a PK. The UD player WAS going straight at the near post from 10yds out, so its not like he was running away or at a goofy angle. I called it a "somewhat favorable" call because I've seen fouls in the box that were 10x worse and not called and some that were 10x softer with a guy with his back to the goal at the corner of the 18 and the zebra points to the PK hash. You just never know with these clowns. I consider any PK favorable. It really could have gone either way.

The SLU coach didnt get tossed right after the call. I think UD cashed in on the PK and Donigan lost his wad and either kicked or threw something against the plexiglass bubble the teams sit inside and if you've ever heard those get wacked or punched it sounds like a lightning crack. So he was going pretty ape on the sideline as the teams were returning for the re-start and that's what did him in. The thing that got SLU was the through ball really caught them off guard and the defender was in a spot where he had to do something rather significant. He couldnt take the chance the UD guy wouldnt get to his last dribble. The Flyers set-up on that sequence was very good. Dayton manufactured the circumstances to get a PK call so it wasn't a matter of the call coming from left field. The Bills were caught very flat-footed on the sequence and I think if they had held their shape a bit better and challenged from a better angle, they would have gotten the benefit of the doubt rather than UD. That as much as anything probably led to the whistle.

Thanks for your point of view.

This is what I heard from a SLU fan at the game, very similar to what you said.

The ball was turned over in the midfield which left the defense vulnerable as SLU was attacking and could not get back in time. The SLU defender kicked the ball out as the UD attacker had the ball several yards in front of him, then they collided. A penalty was called. The SLU coach walked on the field to argue the call and got a yellow. Then he proceeded to punch the plexiglass resulting in a red.