futbalfan

I was only being specific for purposes of pointing out it was the men's coach I've heard through reliable 1st hand accounts on his very positive and sportsmanship manner and behavior and not intended to imply anything else in terms of that other thread.

Would be interesting in seeing the actual game report filed by the CR on that game. The public report on KHSAA's website only states "Red Card". It appears other sports are more descriptive for reasons but for soccer it's generic, yet I believe the CR must submit in his/her game report the rule violated for the ejection and most likely some supporting information (e.g. if double yellow the rule violated for each yellow), at least that's how Game Reports are filled out for USSF games. If so, then the guess work of why someone was ejected would be taken out of the discussion.

I've heard on a few other occasions very positive things about the professionalism the HHS Men's coaches have displayed.

No, refs cannot mandate water breaks. The playing time and execution of the game is mandated by rules. The only exception is the use of mandated water breaks for heat index tolerance levels. That said, refs do have other means to "cool" the game down those include tactics such as elongating the substitution (basically, wait for the player coming off to be completely off the the field and the player coming on to be in a ready position and then then pausiing a few extra seconds), talking to a player at a normal stoppage (the "I don't want to see anymore" talk). But they cannot stop the clock outside of those times the NFHS rules state. They can use other tools to try to maintain temperatures in the game such as talking to players in advance of conflict letting them know they are there and watching. That all said, and not having been in attendance, at the end of the day it's on VERY rare occasions that the Ref is the cause of the problems described in this thread. Refs in general (yes, generalization here) do NOT want to pull cards or get involved in a game. They are there for two reasons. First and foremost is the safety of the players. Secondly, would be rules enforcement. It's games like this why HS soccer has so many black eyes in relative comparison to Club soccer. I'm betting that many of the same kids who were involved would most likely not be involved in similar type of behavior if they play high level club ball (which i know some of them are) where the general soccer IQ of player (not just technical abilities but understanding of the use of tactical fouls versus shear hacking, judging how refs call games), coaches and parents themselves overall are much higher. I'm sure, I've just now offended most involved in this thread but state it with first hand experience at being one of all the above roles with the exception of HS coach. Whether the idea on another thread about accumulating cards and having consequences would help curtail situations like this or not I don't know but it's just a shame that situations like this are too common in HS soccer and all involved should look at their role in this occurring before pointing fingers at others be they refs, coaches, players or parents. Yes, we as parents are as equally accountable for instances like this. I've been any many games where I've observed the players react to the ignorant and at times viscous yelling by parents similar to how I've seen them react to bad behavior by their coaches. no answers here but more observations of a situation I DID NOT attend but have attend many many similar games.

Theoretically it sounds good but there are two things going against from what I heard. First, Nky has more fields played without lights than Lex area. If game is played during week and beyond the second or possibly 2nd week of season you would be lucky to get 2 running 30s in much less 35 due to darkness. Secondly, and I don't know if this true but I thought I heard that the state doesn't have a standard pay scale for officials across all regions. Basically, some get paid more or less for the same level of a game and position. This may have a factor in it as well but it's just a guess.

Didn't hear why but interesting enough is NO starting goalie didn't play at all. He's a 6' 6" XU signee and out due to injury.

Elder has one of the top scorers and attackers in Cincy in Joey Sabato who was tops in Assist and second in total points and First Team All Star in GCL South as a Sophmore in 2013. He will be a huge handful as he lightening fast, built like tank and had a great first touch and turn on the ball an excels at taking on defenders directly.

I was at the game as well and heard the conversation. A little background would be helpful. Technically speaking the NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) set the rules for all high school soccer. All rules apply to Varisty games including the rule that states halves are played as 40 minutes. It's ONLY Varsity where the 40 minutes apply. Frosh and JV is up to individual states to set their own time periods. There is no real standard time across all of Kentucky for JV. In Northern Kentucky the refs apply standard start and stop procedures for time clocks and use a 30 minute half. That means they stop the clock for the same reasons the do in Varsity (e.g. goal, ingury, cards, etc) which means a full 30 mins is played (barring heat rules but even those don't usually apply as the rule states no longer than 30 minutes which they then just run the clock for 30 mins with no stoppage). In other parts of Kentucky like Lexington they do a running 35 min clock with no stoppage or so I was told. I've never been down there for a game to observer but assume they simply run it for 35 mins. If this is true then on average both systems should come out to about the same amount of time actually played. It appears from what I saw the Lexington coaching sstaff asked NDA staff to play 35 and the announcer put 35 on the clock to start the game but the center ref ended it with something like 4 mins left on the clock as he was going off his watch which he stopped and started as indicated by his hand gestures of winding his arm (for start) and cross them (for stop). From what I could hear it did get a little testie with a couple of Lex Cath parents and the announcer, who i think was just asking for clarification as I suspect he was told they were going to do 35 by someone on NDA's staff, only added to the problem of confusion. On an actual soccer side, that was one of the weaker NDA teams I've seen the past 5-6 years I've been around the area watching. The good news is that they have some good young talent. One that stood out was the soph center back. Very strong and skilled. I heard NDA has 2 normal starters out for how long I'm not sure. One is their starting center back, Greenwell who's a UC commit. The other is a Soph but didn't hear her name but someone pointed her out as having a boot on her foot. It looked very even in terms of ball possession the first half with NDA having a few more chances but overall pretty equal. The start of the second half Lex Cath came out sluggish and NDA looked much quicker and winning all the 50/50 and then taking over majority of possession and thus chances. I hung around long enough of the JV game to see the loan goal which actually was the best shot on goal in either game. Don't know who took it but the goal was off a direct kick from about 15 yards outside the box toward the NDA bench. Text book of up and over the wall and the ball dropping with speed just under the bar. Big Props to whichever young lady took it.

I was at the game. Rained off and on throughout. I got there about 9 mins into the game and NO was already up 2-0 by then. I was told 1 was off a silly mistake by BC's defense and bascially a give away. NO, clearly had better overall talent and controlled the ball about 70% of the time I watched. BC looked to do long through balls and most were hopeful although a couple, due to slippery field, did results in a couple good. BC started their stating goalie in the second half and it showed although they were down 3-0 by then. The AR near the benches looked like the walking wounded. The game was way too fast for him to be able to keep up with it. The one on the bleachers side was nominally better off. Luckily, neither had a real affect on the game. Bottom line, BC has 4-5 physically strong players with decent technical skill but lack overall team technical abilities and those that have it seem to rely on strength and speed.

"Maybe he will have talent in 2-3 years for this style, but is that fair to these girls now?" I really have no skin in the game but having played HS and D1 across the river and a D license (not renewed- nor coaching) I'm curious as to how he would go about implementing a specific formation at Varsity without implementing across all three squads at the same time? - Not a rhetorical question. The only alternative for him would be to implement it at Fresh level then move it along with the age over next 2-3 years. That said, and not really knowing the specifics of the situation (formation or talent to execute) I would state most quality coaches would tailor their style/formation of play to the talent at hand and able to execute if purlely winning now was the priority. If building a program he wants he may simply be using this time to development of the formation himself and his staff along with training execution which all take time to mature along with the players executing.

Generally, I would agree with your assessment with one slight difference. The only "break" CCH had was the own goal attributed to Day. That was a definition of a "break". I think the winning goal was what CCH was looking for throughout the game. Multiple chances for quality finishes that weren't executed. I think CC's game plan (or at least it appeared to be a game plan going in) was well executed which was to pack it in and counter with long through balls or quick combinations through the middle to through balls. CCH has shown they can posses the ball for 80% of the game but have issues finishing and making good choice in terms of combinations in or near the box. The other concern would be easy goals given up and not off quality play by the opposition (no offense meant to CC or Lex Cath goal scorers) accounting for the last three goals given up. That occurs against high quality teams like Trinity where ball possession will be hard to come by will be very difficult to recover from in a game.