Archive for April 24, 2012
April 24, 2012 — Unintended consequences
Today’s Game of the Day
Washington Sidwell Friends (D.C.) at Washington National Cathedral (D.C.)
Sidwell makes the 10-block trek down Wisconsin Avenue to meet the Eagles as both teams are chasing Visitation and St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes for Independent School League honors.
Five years ago, I commented on some of the unintended consequences of some of the new rules changes in women’s lacrosse, crystallized in single instance of a goalie from Syracuse University trying to chase down a bad pass rolling towards the end line.
Over the weekend, there were a couple of situations in which rules changes may have led to some interesting quirks which may not have been what the rulesmakers intended.
Late in the match between Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) and Hauppage (N.Y.), a McDonogh player was fouled by the Hauppage goaltender while a goal was being scored. But because that foul was a yellow-card offense, the fourth bookable offense by Hauppage, the following happened:
1) The goalkeeper was removed from the field for the next two minutes
2) The Hauppage coaching staff was obligated to put in a substitute goalkeeper
3) The coaching staff also had to remove one more player and, because the team had four team cards, the team was playing one short the rest of the game, and;
4) Because the foul came after the goal, McDonogh was awarded the ball on the next draw
That’s about as bad as the soccer goalie being red-carded and giving up a penalty kick for denying a goal-scoring opportunity as the last defender. Hopefully, someone will take a look at this.
In addition, when you look at the eight games played, there were four occasions in which teams reached at least three team yellows. As no junior varsity games were played on the weekend, and only one game decided by three goals or fewer, coaches sent in more of their less-heralded players in the last few minutes of play.
Those players were competing under a different set of rules.
Oh, sure, the rules are supposed to be the same for everyone, but when you’re coming into the game late when your teammates have conceded three bookable offenses, that means that your first foul is going to result in the reduction of the number of players on the field for the rest of the game.
That, I think, is far too harsh.
