Physical game spins out of control
Experience says that when the playoffs start, soccer games become more intense, more physical and in general more testy between players.
But Saturday's 2-2 tie between Waubonsie Valley and Oswego at the Waubonsie Valley Invite crossed the line between physical and intense to out of control and approaching rugby-like levels.
Paul Riley / IU Sports Photography
Saturday's game featured 25 fouls, four yellow cards, three near-fights, a landed punch from an Oswego player that resulted in not even a warning and, at times, a complete lack of control by the officials.
"The refs never had control of the game," said Waubonsie Valley (4-10-5) coach Angelo DiBernardo. "I don't know what he does for a living but he should stick to that."
Oswego (8-10-3) coach Travis Carlisle had similar sentiments.
"We had a player literally tackled in the box," Carlisle said. "There were calls missed both ways. It just became a bit of a brawl."
After Oswego took a 1-0 lead into halftime, Warriors' forward Ryan Dodson was taken down inside the penalty box and Waubonsie was awarded a penalty kick. Nik Patel's first shot was blocked but he put in his own rebound to tie the game.
After Patel's goal, the physicality of the game picked up and didn't stop.
Both teams had players that sustained injuries in the second half, none worse than Waubonsie's Greg Danielwicz.
Danielwicz collided with an Oswego player in the second half and yelled out in pain before he even hit the ground. The game was delayed for several minutes while Danielwicz was helped off the field with a sprained right ankle. He was carted off the field after the game and his status for Wednesday's regional semifinal game at home against Oswego East is unknown.
"I don't know, I don't want to (miss Wednesday's game)," Danielwicz said.
Dodson scored with 23 minutes left in the second half on a shot to the right corner to give Waubonsie the lead. The Warriors held on until there was 5:24 left in the half, when Oswego's Ryan Stransky scored following a corner kick. The referees missed an apparent hand ball from Oswego's Pete Zimmerman, whom the ball deflected off of to Stransky on the play, to the protests of Waubonsie.
Dodson picked up a yellow card, the fourth of the game, a minute later as the teams battled to a tie.
"They were neglecting some calls out there and the game just got out of the control," Dodson said. "It affected us mentally and it became just a jousting game with people hitting each other."
jsahly@scn1.com Soccer: Oswego 2, Waubonsie Valley 2
