Boys varsity soccer appeal shut down

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by Sophie Ferreri, Head Copy Editor

It was a long, hard fought season and no one was ready to let it go that easily.

Four Glen Rock boys soccer parents marched into the sports lobby the Monday morning following the semi-final loss to Ramapo. They had set up a meeting with Athletic Director, Frank Violante, to discuss what could be done.

“They wanted to talk about the travesty that took place at the game,” Violante said. “They were upset, rightfully so.”

The parents felt the incorporation of head coaches and referees during the deliberation of the call was unfair and worth addressing. Violante agreed and followed up by appealing the loss with the head of the county tournament. After doing so, he then discussed the loss with the head of the state.

“The coaches from the other team got involved in the discussion of the rule and they shouldn’t have been. The referees should have told the Glen Rock coaches to ‘go over there and rampao over there and we’ll decided’,” Violante said.

The controversial call that caused the bickering between both teams and referees was also brought into question.

Ramapo’s Andrew Furman took a throw-in and stepped over the line, which prompted the sideline official to raise his flag, unseen to the field referee. Ramapo continued to play and scored on Glen Rock.

Captain, Justin Kochman (‘18), quickly turned to the Glen Rock fan section and reassured the crowd the goal would not count, but the main referee stood by his call. Ramapo took a 3-2 lead with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game. the final score was 4-2 Ramapo.

“No way that’s allowed. Something had to be done,” Kochman said.

Violante quickly heard back from the state and county athletic departments due to the time crunch. If anything could be done, it had to be done before the county game, Ramapo against Old Tappan .

Both departments deemed the call incorrect. It is legal to step on the line during a throw in. One could not appeal the miscalculation of the rules.

As for the assumption the referees were pressured to make the call, there was nothing they could do about it.

“It’s a tough way to lose and no one wanted to accept it,” varsity soccer player, Nick Rogers (‘17) said. 

Unsatisfied, the team rallied support via various social media, but soon unanimously decided to move along with their season and focus on states.

“It sucks that we lost this way, but we just got to keep our heads high and get ready for states,” Kochman said.