| The Cougars opened with the same starting 11 from the previous match, promptly scoring 3 goals in 8 minutes! Kate put away the first goal in the 3rd minute when Dixie fed her a through ball. Seaside kicked off and Daniela pounced on the ball and drove all the way to goal! Kate was fouled in the 8th minute outside the Seaside penalty area. She delivered a fine ball to the far post for Daniela to finish. The Cougars were in complete control, and in the 24th minute, Kate, Jackie and Daniela combined to give Daniela her hat-trick! At this point we began to substitute to limit running up the score, and give some of the newer players some field time. In the 35th minute Kate sent in a fine corner kick for Blair to head in near the far post. The second half saw everyone get some playing time. Seaside managed a few solid attacks, earning one goal. Gen was a lot busier than in the first half. No goals for the Cougars, but a lot of good attempts on goal saw the game end 5-1 for the Cougars. Several players had their first taste of Varsity soccer, and began the building process as future stars for Santa Catalina soccer! Seaside worked with the referees to follow their football program’s lead to give out a “sportsmanship award” to one player from each team. Their #20 earned it for Seaside, and Blair earned it for Santa Catalina. GO COUGARS! SPECIAL NOTE: Game Forfeiture: Due to an Admissions/Athletic Dept. oversight, Santa Catalina played a (eligible) player that had not completed the appropriate CCS transfer paperwork prior to enrolling at the start of the year. In addition to forfeiting the games that this player played in, CCS banned this (eligible) player from three subsequent games. CCS makes a big deal about student/player participation – but where is the logic in this scenario? Our subsequent results clearly demonstrate that there is little or no need for cheating in our athletic program for our athletes to succeed. The player in question was completely eligible to play for Santa Catalina, but in her (re)enrollment process the appropriate paperwork for athletic participation had not been completed. Who should be punished for this oversight, assuming any punishment is even warranted? CSS has extensive rules in place to prevent schools from recruiting athletes to bolster their programs. Unfortunately these rules have a “zero-tolerance” approach, removing any iota of common sense when a student/player moves from one school to another. Regarding a situation where the adults in charge make a mistake, find out about it, own up about it and quickly rectify the situation, what does CCS do? - Penalize the player, punish the team and tarnish their record. Intelligent adult administrators should have the capacity and power to make appropriate and meaningful decisions for the benefit of our athletes, instead of hiding behind blanket statements of “those are the rules”! If you have any further comments on this CCS policy, please direct them to the CCS Commissioner, Nancy Lazenby Blaser: nblaser@cifccs.org and our MTAL League Commissioner, Tim McCarthy: mccarthy@cmmlaw.com . The Santa Catalina Cougars are committed to “Playing with Class, Good Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct”. Please email me at rodgilchrist@montereysoccer.com to receive a copy of this. The original version of this article can be found in "The Soccer Coaching Bible", put out by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Visit http://www.nscaa.com/ for more information. GO COUGARS!!!! Rod Gilchrist, Santa Catalina Varsity Coach, 831 917-3367. |