Mooresville girls soccer coach Steve Stith had plenty of reason to be upset with the officials after his team's first-round playoff loss to Kernersville Glenn on Wednesday night.
But the veteran coach took the high road. He didn't attempt to comment on two shaky calls that went against his squad. Instead, he talked about what his girls could have done better to win a game they relinquished a 1-0 lead and ended up losing 2-1 in a penalty-kick shootout.
The Blue Devils had a goal disallowed in the 25th minute. Officials said that Brittney Dailey did not wait the appropriate amount of time before taking her free kick. Yet, somehow, they didn't didn't whistle the play dead as Dailey went to serve the ball into the box. No, they waited to halt the action until after Kenley Streetman scored to give Mooresville what it thought was a 2-0 lead.
Stith didn't complain after it was explained to him why the goal was nullified.
Glenn eventually tied the game and forced overtime. Perhaps it should have never reached sudden-death overtime or a shootout.
Mooresville probably should have been awarded a penalty shot in the sixth minute of the first overtime when one of its players was fouled. It was borderline, but it looked as though the hard foul occurred inside of the penalty area.
A penalty shot was not awarded and, with the ball positioned just outside the box, the Blue Devils came away empty-handed on the ensuing free kick.
It was like the foul referees choose not to whistle with two seconds left in a basketball game that's tied. They don't want to be the goat.
Stith sensed that apprehension on Wednesday, but he just folded his arms, turned and muttered, "I know you don't want to make that call ..."
Considering their poor showing in the shootout, there's no guarantee that the Blue Devils would have made a penalty kick after that foul in the first overtime. But it sure looked like they deserved the opportunity.
Those are the breaks.
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