Outrageous Soccer From UNM
I’ve seen (and played) a lot of soccer in my day. Over the course of those years, I came across many teams and players with different styles and philosophies of play. Some are great and others not so great. Some players have a sense of sportsmanship and some don’t. Some are taught to play this way and others are simply made that way. Every game functions with its own context.
I can’t profess to know what kind of history the University of New Mexico and Brigham Young University when it comes to women’s soccer and nor do I know the context to which this game was played but I can’t recall seeing a more deliberate and despicable display of soccer by #15 of the New Mexico side.
We all love edgy players who compete hard. Without such players, you don’t win championships. However, there are limits to aggressiveness, I believe. To me, the images speak for themselves. Even if she was being trash talked she exhibited no self-control.
What baffles me is how she wasn’t thrown out of the game. This wasn’t a soccer player. This was a bully.
Watch for yourselves. What do you think?
2 Responses to “Outrageous Soccer From UNM”
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Elizabeth Lambert was suspended indefinitely by her school and she issued an apology. However its a little too late, not sure if her apology was sincere or not.
I would like the refs to take some accountability on this also ….. have seen too many games were the refs failed to notice this type of sportsmanship ….. as far as I am concerned the refs aided Lambert in her behavior and are just as responsible.
I absolutely agree; the ref didn’t do their job. It reminded me of the Holland/Portugal match in 2006. A ref can’t let teams or renegade players get out of control. I also want to see some accountability from the coach. Either this was part of the game plan or he/she (?) turned a blind eye to it. Both are unacceptable in my mind.
As for the sportsmanship, trash talking, slight hits to the back of the knee, stepping on toes and stuff like that are part of sports.
A ref can’t be expected to see everything. However, seems to me there were some blatant examples to which the referee should have been able to send her off with a straight red.
In the video, we see that sort of jostling between two players in the beginning. The NM player knees the BY player, the BY player elbows her back and the NM swings back. That happens. It should have ended there or at worst on the next series with a hard tackle. But to continue on and on like that? Moreover, those were brutal, mistimed, awkward slide tackles. They were probably done with the intent to injure.
I’ve been reading comments about the incident and it never ceases to amaze me how people find ways to spin and defend the indefensible.