UCSB's Luis Silva was given a red card for a slide tackle that preceded this punch thrown by Cal's Servando Carrasco. Controversial referee Mike Kampmeinert can be seen in wearing red in the right of the frame.
UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg had seen it happen before to his team in the NCAA men’s soccer tournament.
In 2003 at St. John’s, the referee didn’t bother with the stadium clock and 10-second countdown and the Red Storm scored a tying goal in “extra time” and beat the Gauchos in overtime.
In 2004 at North Carolina-Greensboro, forward Neil Jones was ejected after the first three minutes and the Gauchos played 106 minutes a man down and pulled out a victory.
In 2007 at Ohio State, the referee missed a blatant Ohio State foul against Andy Iro and the Buckeyes scored and beat the Gauchos in double overtime.
On Sunday, in a second-round NCAA Tournament game at Cal, the Gauchos felt they were foiled by some questionable calls by the head official in a bitter 2-1 overtime loss to the Bears.
The loss ended UCSB’s dream of reaching the College Cup that’s being held at Harder Stadium.
In his postgame press conference, an impassioned Vom Steeg railed against the officiating and the NCAA’s handling of the men’s soccer tournament.
Here are some of his remarks.
“I will qualify my statements by saying I have my checkbook, so the NCAA can take my money,” he said in his opening comment.
“I’ve been in the sport, coaching Division 1 college soccer for 12 years and what I had to experience out on that field was not fair for me, not fair to my coaching staff, and was not fair to my players.
“I know exactly what I’m saying here. The fact is that we have a sport here, men’s soccer, which has yet to rise to the level where (NCAA officials) actually understand it can be a big-time sport.
“We treat soccer very differently in Santa Barbara. For soccer in Santa Barbara, it is our No. 1 sport. We don’t have football there. We draw 15,000 people to a game. We have fans that travel all the way up from Santa Barbara to watch this game. We have fans in the Bay Area.
“We have done more for college soccer and yet, at the same time, even though we’ve done so much for college soccer what we end up getting is a situation where we still administratively have not figured out how to put on a proper championship.
“We can’t figure out how to do a College Cup right. We cannot still figure out that you cannot have an official who lives within driving distance from the site. We have no ratings system for any of these officials, and so what ends up happening is you cannot tell me that this particular person does any Pac-10 games. How’s that? How did we get somebody that hasn’t done a Pac-10 game this year?
“So, somewhere somebody dropped the ball.
“My responsibility is to coach. The responsibility of my players is to play. The responsibility of the NCAA and the (tournament) committee is to figure how to put on a good championship that is fair and it’s balanced.
“I don’t knock Berkeley, they didn’t do anything wrong. But the bottom line is we are done for the tournament. What I have is a red card on a play that was not even a foul and when that player stood up he was punched. He falls to the ground and he gets the red card and the other player gets the yellow. I’m not sure how that happens.
“And then, with 1:30 left, a shot from the midfield with 17 players on top of the 18-yard box, somehow it’s a PK on a handball from 40 yard out.
“This isn’t the first time I had to explain it to my guys. I don’t how to explain it to my seniors. This about the third time this has happened. It happened at St. John’s, it happened at Ohio State.
“And every single year I go back to the NSCAA convention and the committee and say.
“For the good of the players and the good of the game, can we fix this? Can we not fix this? It’s not hard. Can we fix it?
“I don’t mind being the person who has to call it out for what it is.
“Once again, the conversation will be about my comments right now, my criticism.
“Soccer is a really, really big deal in Santa Barbara and that was a hard loss for our fans and for our players. Our school does care.”
Good for Vom Steeg… hope it doesn’t cost him too much and hope he helps create some change. How can the refs for the championship tournament not be the best refs of the year. I’m not sure I’d want a pac-10 or big west ref, but there must be decent rated refs from other regions of the country that have worked NCAA D1 games as head ref.
Were any of you there to watch the game? UCSB coaches/players were an embarassment to their program, school and the NCAA for their poor sportsman like conduct regarding their assault of the referess following the game. Respect is part of the game, and UCSB’s behavior was not respectful regardless of what happened on the field. I was ashamed to be a Gaucho supporter.
How do you feel if someone robs something from you, something about which you care greatly, maybe more than anything else? We LOVE football, REAL football at Santa Barbara, and know the game deeply……. Our reaction was professional, really, exactly that of professional players when cheated out of a win by referee(s). When we take the pitch we play for God, love, honor and glory, not only for “university——-” it’s big, we love it, we protest not out of hate but out of love and honor ——- If I was Cal’s coach in fact, I would not take the result but offer a rematch. (That’s a period)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are probably a Cal alum…. It was the ref who cost them the game, he cost them the season and all their work was stolen away. end of story
obviously u have never experience passion and trained hard for a years to be snatch a chance of a life time.. keep ur comments to ur self .. im not even a gaucho and when refs dictate a game.. but u played at high level so u know what ur talking about right…. prob not.
The Gaucho fans and players have nothing to be ashamed about. The fans traveled 6 hours north and screamed their hearts out for a full 100 mins. A handful of loyal fans were able to drowned out your entire home field advantage (minus the home ref). As for the gaucho players, who out played Cal a man down for the majority of the match, they did not as you say “assault” the ref after the game. Our players approached the ref with questions of a handball that led to the OT goal. Never did our players touch the ref.
In terms of sportsmanship how can you justify Carrasco punching Silva in the face? That to me is grounds for assault rather than asking a ref about a bad call. Carrasco himself in a post game interview states that he did nothing wrong to silva and that that is part of the game. That’s unsportsman-like in my opinion.
Gaucho till I die
The three players are criminals, attacking the refs like that. They threw objects at the referees and grabbed their shirts. The UCSB trio better flee back to Africa and South America, to avoid jail time.
Referee should never have been allowed to officiate the game:
By MARK PATTON NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Mark Patton
November 23, 2010 5:36 AM
UCSB’s Cup won’t runneth over for the Gauchos after several questionable decisions by an inexperienced referee cost them dearly in Sunday’s 2-1, overtime defeat at California in the second round of the National Championships.
The NCAA should have paid to bring in a top referee. How Mike Kampmeinert of Sacramento ended up with Sunday’s officiating assignment has both baffled and infuriated UCSB officials.
Their check of game summaries this season shows that Kampmeinert has served as the center official in just a couple of NCAA women’s games. He’s worked only the sidelines in two Division 1 men’s contests.
That fact shows that the Pac-10 assigner who got Kampmeinert to officiate the match violated this portion of the NCAA’s own 2010 handbook:
“Policies and Selection of Officials. For the Division I men’s soccer championship, an official is required to work a minimum of six regular-season Division I men’s soccer games in order to be eligible to work any round(s) of the championship.”
Seeing as how Kampmeinert is the president of the Central California Soccer Referee’s Association: http://www.ccsra.net/Home/about-ccsra. I highly doubt that he was inexperienced and I doubt even more that the NCAA soccer board appointed an inexperienced referee.
I’m not calling you a liar. I’m just saying that you showed an article by UCSB, there are no sources, and the referee’s bio isn’t public knowledge, so I would question the credibility of the article you’re citing.
The article is available from the Santa Barbara News Press here http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=SPORTS&ID=565971133007003774 Not an official UCSB publication by any means. The question of his validity refers to the NCAA regulation that any postseason official must have worked six regular-season Division I men’s soccer games. The full text of the quoted article instead his resume for this season, which is far under the required number.
Keep in mind that every level of soccer plays differently. FIFA is different from NCAA is different from AYSO. At the same time, men’s soccer plays differently from women’s, hence the seasonal requirement for the championship-quality refs. The NCAA did not provide that for an official paid $500 for the game. I don’t see how you can really dispute this point, it’s the best thing for UCSB’s argument.
I fail to understand how you know that the referee was both under-experienced and paid $500 for the game. Like I said, Kampmeinert is the president of the Central California Soccer Referee’s Association. He was also referee of the year a few years back, and has officiated professional/international games. See link: http://www.ccsra.net/Home/about-ccsra. Also, he was chosen by the tournament coordinators. So UCSB’s argument that the referee was under-qualified also implies that the NCAA doesn’t know how select referees. I’m sure that will really help their case.
I hate to tell you,but the author of the article you linked unfortunately fails at investigative journalism. The rule you’re stating, that requires an official to work six season as a Division I referee only applies to Women’s soccer: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/champ_handbooks/soccer/2010/10_1_w_soccer.pdf (see page 18). If you were to read the 2010 NCAA Soccer Championship Host Manual: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/d48f4f804446a7938592876bcdc87ae7/2010_DI_MSO_TournManual_Merged.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=d48f4f804446a7938592876bcdc87ae7, you’d find that on page 35 it states that all preliminary round referees are hand-selected by an NCAA Championship committee.
Sadly, UCSB’s argument for the referee being under-experiences is now officially out the window, and seeing as how it’s printed in the Host Handbook, they knew about this rule before anyone else did. UCSB and all Gaucho fans need to give up their ranting and accept the fact that they lost the game and should get on with their lives.
Lets start the discussion about the real issue: how much suspencion time will the Gouchos players and Coaches likely to suffer?.
My guess, The three players red carded, three game suspencion and the coach six games and team eliminated from post season play for a year! ouch
Grow up Vom Steeg. You want the game handed to you on a silver platter by the NCAA because UCSB is hosting the College Cup? Enjoy your suspension to start out the 2011 season.
There is a reason why your a HS Soccer Coach and he is a COLLEGE Soccer Coach. Maybe High School’s can begin reforming their programs and hiring more experienced coaches. Vom Steeg could probably recommend a few.
Timmy, didn’t I tell you to stop pretending to be a HS soccer coach and do the dishes?
Bless you TVS. Cal should feel ashamed of their thieving–they won’t, so it’s up to our school, coaches, and supporters to let the world know it. This was very much like the infamous 1972 Olympic basketball game when obvious ref incompetence/corruption handed the game to the USSR. Yesterday’s game really was THAT ridiculous. The ’72 USA team refused to accept their silver medals, and I only wish our school would do something similar and tell the NCAA to take their tarnished tournament somewhere else. The game would have been more favorably reffed if Oki the Bear was the lead official.
Vom Steeg is the best thing ever for college soccer.He has done more for the sport to grow than the next 5 combined.
He’ll make a great Field Marshall during the College Cup.
It will be an appropriate NCAA penalty for his inability to control his players post-match vs. CAL!
Regardless of a suspension, Tim’s comments are spot on.
By the way, Cal was handed the game on a silver platter; not UCSB.
Handed on a platter? Cal guy hit UCSB guy in the face so I don’t think its asking too much for a red card.
Silver platter? Gaucho out played Cal at Berkeley a man down the entire game.
One might advise you to review the film of the game. On that note some of it is posted on youtube and it points out exactly what Vom Steeg was depressed about. How such a completely ignorant ref can officiate a game like he did and stand himself. I don’t know how much he got paid but I do believe once the NCAA looks into this he’ll be back to officiating HS. The entire game was bad, everything from the fight at the beginning and snowballing into the last two minutes. The final driving score of Cal warranted several violations in itself. I love Cal and will continue to support them, however the officiating of this game I cannot.
I was at that game, and I have to say that I saw what was happening, and it was not how Vom Steeg describes it. The two calls that he references were fair calls. The red card was for sliding into a Cal player with his cleats up, and he was shoved by the Cal player afterward, not punched. And even though the shot on goal was from a ways out, it was absolutely heading into the goal before the handball. I understand being upset, but the UCSB team was completely out of hand afterward. I notice that Vom Steeg forgot to mention how a number of players from his team tried to attack the ref as he was leaving the stadium, and that the ref had to be protected by three or four guys until he was able to be put on a cart to be rushed out of the stadium.
Says the Cal Bear fan. Your rose-tinted lenses are showing. Our player was punched, cold-clocked with a right fist to his face while defenseless on the ground. It was an arrestable offense, made even worse when the Cal player faked injury after taking a wild punch on our player who did nothing worse than a yellow card offense. And the Cal handball was a “ball plays the hand” type of deflection with our defender positioned outside the box. Not like the blatant handball Cal committed inside the box in the OT when he deliberately raised his hand over his shoulder to control a poor back pass with his arm. I’m not ashamed how our players reacted after this fixed match, they played their guts out and won it only to have it stolen. You forgot to mention that TVS also berated the Cal players and staff during the post-match melee for acting like a bunch of conning thieves. Cal were rubbish and will get slaughtered by Brown next week, assuming this ref isn’t there to arrange a win.
“Our player was punched, cold-clocked with a right fist to his face while defenseless on the ground.” Are you being satirical? He was shoved in the chest/neck area (while standing) after he made a late tackle which probably did not merit a red card, but was definitely a foul. Then both the Cal player and the UCSB player went to the ground for several minutes for no apparent reason other than the fact that they saw Cristiano Ronaldo doing it on TV.
I posted this, but now retract after seeing low quality video. I still don’t think “punched” is accurate, but he did shove/push down very forcefully as the UCSB player was getting up. It’s also questionable whether the tackle was even a foul. No way the UCSB player deserves a red card (or even yellow in my opinion). The Cal player pushing the guy down probably merited a red card. It still appears that the UCSB guy was acting by laying on the ground so long (as was the Cal guy obviously), but that’s admittedly neither here nor there.
Hopefully we get to see longer video, does look like probably the best call would have been a yellow to cal or maybe yellows to each, depending on what the front end of that video looks like. Not much that can be done about it at this point though. 11 on 11 certainly would have changed the complexion of the game. hopefully video of all the key issues is available, in longer chunks that show context.
This person obviously didn’t attend the game and it’s obvious from the following:
1) No player was “cold-clocked” because that would have resulted in an immediate ejection and/or on-field brawl.
2) If the shot was from 40 yards out and everyone else was at the 18-yard line, as TVS said above, then any sort of hand contact would not be a “ball-plays-the-hand type” because the ball would have been in the air for the last 22 yards.
3) There was no “blatant handball” because the word blatant implies that there’s chance of missing it. Seeing as how none of the three officials saw it, given that they have the best views of the field and their opinions are the only ones that matter on the field, this “blatant handball” nver occurred.
4) UCSB did not win the game only to have it stolen because that would mean that a win was actually recorded in the books for UCSB, and then later overturned and granted to Cal. This, of course, didn’t happen.
5) There was no post-game melee except for the coach and a few UCSB players attacking the officials unitl they could be escorted away.
The fact remains that a cleats-up slide tackle is considered malicious in intent and it’s how legs get broken. Anyone from any team would’ve been upset by that tackle and would’ve expected nothing less than a red card because that’s the required ruling. Also, I’m ashamed of how the coach and a few players from UCSB reacted after the game. A loss in any high-stakes sporting game is difficult to cope with, but it’s completely classless to act violently. All that does is tarnish both the sport’s reputation and the school’s reputation.
I do agree that the officiating was atrocious, but attacking the referee will only make them more bias against that team later on.
*edit: there isn’t, not there’s
Watch this video and try to tell me that tackle is worthy of a red card. Better yet, try to argue that is even merits a yellow. I’ll make it easier, lay out your case for even calling it a foul. Bottom line…you can’t.
I watched the video (36 second version) and after replaying it in slowmo repeatedly here is what I see:
Silva makes a bad pass, intercepted by Cal. As some players are wont to do when they make an errant pass, he starts to overdefend and his first attempt to win back the ball (from Cal’s number 9) shows him coming in with his left foot cleats up but he stays upright and does not win the ball.
Cal number 9 passes it to Cal number 10 (Carrasco). Silva continues to aggressively attempt to win the ball back and this time slides toward the Cal player number 10. Silva’s left leg/foot leads and his right leg/foot trails, but both are out in two-footed tackle form.
Silva’s left foot misses the ball (to the left as Silva is looking at the ball) and appears to collide with Carrasco’s lower right leg. At the point of collision, Silva’s left foot has its cleats facing Carrasco’s right lower leg, so the contact had to be cleats to leg. You can see the profile of Silva’s foot after the contact with Carrasco, and it is defintely cleats toward the Cal player.
Carrasco sees the foot coming and starts to lift his right leg but isn’t quick enough and contact his made. (Forunately Carrasco got the leg airborne before the contact; if it remained planted, seriously injury could have resulted.)
Simultaneously, Silva’s right foot/leg is sweeping through and gets mostly ball if not all ball. Carrasco’s left leg is totally uninvolved– there is no way Silva made any contact with Carrasco’s left leg.
So, with the above context, Silva’s left foot goes cleats up against Carrasco’s right leg and then Silva’s right leg comes through afterward and gets ball. Simple. Definitely a foul and, assuming cleats make contact with lower leg, definitely a red card.
Sure I can. Video reviews of calls, call challenges, and all other instant replay types of technology have been decidedly omitted from soccer worldwide because the FIFA board and nearly all fans feel that such stoppages interfere with the fluidity of the game. Since all soccer spectators and players know this, they also have accepted the fact that human error can occur and will occur, and they prefer that in lieu of interrupting the game so the officials can watch and discuss the replays.
What happened that Sunday was UCSB falling victim to the game of soccer. The referee was entrusted with the duty to call the game as he saw fit and he did just that. His calls, whether you view them as fair or unfair, are all part of the game.
So, regardless of what you or I “think” this call should have been, the right call is what the head official made because he was the head official, appointed by the NCAA, and that’s what he felt was fair. Your opinions, as well as mine, don’t count during, or after the fact because we’ve willingly forfeited them to keep instant replay and challenges out of soccer. Just let the game go and go back to enjoying soccer in general.
Just on a side note: unless you have high quality video from at least 3 different angles to show the velocity, form, and intent of the tackles and the following shove, it’s difficult to argue or be clear about anything and should therefore be even more difficult to feel upset about.
everyone keeps repeating the same phrase. how else do you slide? maybe he should tuck his ankles in under his knees to more effectively do nothing. he slid, he tackled, he hit some ball. not a red card.
A simple google search would have saved you from appearing both foolish and angry. Since your proposition of a slide tackle by tucking the “ankles under the knees” is ridiculous, I have attached a wikipedia link to proper slide tackling:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_tackle. Basically, the slide occurs on a bent “sliding leg” while the tackle is done with an extended “tackling leg.” This posture facilitates maximum reach and optimum recovery speed from the tackle.
More google searching would have revealed that Rule 12 – Fouls and MIsconduct: Article 12.3.1 on page 71 of the NCAA soccer rules handbook states that a player “guilty of serious foul play” shall be ejected. Since “serious foul play” is defined by FIFA, Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct, page 118 of the FIFA rules handbook states that “a tackle that endagers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play.” A cleats-up tackle means that the sole of the cleats and the field are at an angle of 90 or more degrees from each other and is deemed as a reckless and a serious foul play. This is the same for two-footed tackles, hence the sliding form I mentioned above.
Everyone keeps repeating the “cleats up” phrase because the red card was issued based on that. So, to correct your closing statement: he slid recklessly, he tackled dangerously, he hit some ball, but the official felt it was a serious foul play. It was positively a red card.
The ref deserved to be attacked after the game. The NCAA has no form of accountability for poor performances, so let the players take control of that.
“The ref deserved to be attached after the game”
You’re kidding me right?
You know how I know you’re a Cal Fan?
You know how I know you’re trolling?
because you listen to coldplay
Yeah NM. You listen to cold play. And pee sitting down.
I was at the game as well and I was rooting for Cal. What you say is ridiculous. There WAS a punch to the head, it came immediately before the shove that you reference. I have seen it on tape following the game from someone who was recording it. And the handball was going into the goal? I was certainly hoping so, but it was not even close. It was essentially kicked into a group of players, may have been cleared by any number of defenders, and was covered as well by the keeper who played an excellent game. Good attempt, but even as a Cal fan, there is literally no way you can know anything about the game of soccer and make comments like those. I am happy the Bears won, but understand UCSB’s position. They COMPLETELY dominated the flow of the game with 10 men and it wasn’t close. The best team went home.
Should clarify by saying that there was what I interpret as a punch to the head. (Just because it is two-handed that makes it different than one-handed?) Some could call it a shove, but it is a violent push/shove/two-handed hit to the head. Watch the video posted on this page and try to say otherwise…
All the video is not close enough to show a punch or other contact to the head. (Assuming the videotaper was about five yards from the goaline, near the corner flag, that video was taken from about 50 yards away from the contact/foul. Referees should never be calling fouls from 50 yards away, which is where the poor quality video camera was. But the referee here was 5 yards or less away, a much better angle and distance than “our” view using the video camera.) So given the poor quality of the video (480p?), the distance and the angle, it really is of not much use compared to the observations of referee and other officials and the players themselves who were all much closer and who had better angles (and did not have to view the play through a poor quality video image).
It looks instead like a push to the shoulder, as much as the low quality video images can show us. Watch Silva’s head in slo mo– if the contact was to his head, his neck and head would have snapped back noticeably while his torso and lower body would not have gone down to the ground so fast. But the video shows his head, neck, torso and lower body all aligned and going to the ground together in one motion– which all gives the appearance of a shove/push to the shoulder or chest.
Also, Carrasco does not draw his hand/arm back before it goes down in a shoving motion. His elbow bends slightly, which is what happens when you shove somebody– you bend your elbow then extend to a straight arm. There is no “swing” at all in the movement of Carrasco’s arm.
Also, the UCSB players in the vicinity did not react like there was a punch. If it was a punch, they would have been going immediately to berate Carrasco or to the referee to call for a red card. Not a single UCSB player reacted that way.
Most importantly, the referee had a great view. No referee wants to reduce a game to 11 v 10 if he can help it and if this referee had seen a punch, he would have the perfect excuse to make it a 10 v 10 game. But he did not– so he did not see a punch.
And the AR1 and the Fourth Official, both nearby, did not see a punch because if they had, they would have told the referee and, again, it would be the perfect reason to make it a 10 v 10 game.
So three officials, all with good views, saw no punch; the kinetic body movement of Silva does not look like any contact to the face, head or neck; Carrasco’s arm movement looks like a shove, not a punch; the UCSB players did not react like they saw a punch; and the three referees in the vicinity– including the center referee about 3 to 5 yards away– did not see a punch.
Given all the above, nobody can make a good argument there was a punch. The video only confuses the issue because it is from so far away and all you see is the profile of what happened. I trust the UCSB players’ immediate reactions more than poor quality video from 50 yards away, and the UCSB players did not immediately react like a punch had been thrown.
No Spin has me spinning. He makes the argument that the video is of low quality and too far away to be trusted, yet uses the video to analyze play to justify that a punch was not thrown. The way I saw the video, Silva made a near text book slide tackle, face to face (not from the side or from behind), one legged with no studs up and most important was first to the ball. No foul for Silva. Let them play.
Seeing as how the video is low quality and doesn’t show the slide tackle in its entirety, you cannot say with an confidence that the slide was a “textbook” tackle or that Silva was first to the ball, nor can you verify in any fashion that the studs were not up. You’re doing the exact same thing that you’re accusing No Spin of, making you both a hypocrite and a poor debater.
I trust the video.
No Spin stated the video was not reliable but justified his position based on the video.
Both players should have received the same discipline and the referee could have regained control of the game. By applying his decision with bias, the referee became the center of attention for a match between two great teams representing the west coast.
All I’m saying is if you trust the video, then you and No Spin can freely justify whatever you want because you both feel that the video is absolute. You can’t criticize No Spin and then tell him that the video is trustworthy because now you’ve just validated his justification. So which one is it?
UCSB fans like good, fair soccer and gauchos consistenly deliver. It’s understandable that SOMEtimes calls do not go the way we or the players want, but the record of bad officiating certainly feels unbalanced. The tape of the game deserves to be reviewed by NCAA. Vom Steeg’s comments seem entirely in line. The players will pay for their emotional (over?)reactions, but I hope at least something good comes of it.
VOM STEEG points the Cal players did not make any calls.Acting after a foul sure they did that but so does everybody.College soccer has grown fast.Good refs have not been developed to meet the need.However in these big games a much better effort has to be made to get good refs that can be fair to both sides.Players and coaches must know they are being treated fairly.If not you have bad situations.The NVAA has to get to work and fix this.Sad that UCSB seniors bear the brunt of this horrible situation.
Yes, Karnold you are right– the entire tape of this game and the violence after the game deserves to be reviewed by the NCAA. After such review, UCSB should be required to terminate Vom Steeg and be banished from the Tournament for a minimum of three years. What sad conduct by UCSB players and coaches alike.
Tim: Get your own house in order before you try telling the NCAA how to improve theirs!
IMHO – Four suspensions in a year for accosting referees post match indicates your lack of control.
Sorry – your attendance figures don’t give you a pass.
Let’s just say I would not be sad if that ref were to lose his legs in an accident. It would be good for college soccer for that ref to never walk again. I don’t condone the players attacking him after the game, but can you blame them? After that I wish I pissed on the ref just like he pissed on the game UCSB clearly deserved to win. I hope the NCAA can fix this issue because I don’t like to wish harm onto other people but this guy deserved it.
The NCAA needs to fix UCSB by banishing them from the Tournament for the next five years. Vom Steeg is a joke.
I want to watch the game on video…does anyone know where you can see it?
I was there.
It was bad for the NCAA, the schools and all the players involved.
Nobody really wins win you have a referee (Mike Kampeinert) as bad as that.
College soccer suffered yesterday. The NCAA should wake up.
UCSB suffered yesterday, and most of the wounds were self-inflicted. And when the program is banished from the NCAA tourney next year, they will suffer some more.
Couldn’t tell much about the tackle, but Silva did get blatantly punched. How that’s not a red card to (at least) even out the players on the field in the NCAA tournament is mystifying.
If the NCAA wasn’t so crooked to begin with, I would have faith in them fixing this so-called system.
Getting a read card “at least” doesn’t make any sense because a red card is the highest in-game ruling; there’s nothing above it. That’s like saying someone should at least be killed for their crime. You can’t punish them any further.
not true you can get suspended, fined and much more. e.g. look up Elizabeth Lampert. She got banned from college soccer for her actions ….NCAA Officiating is a JOKE.
What happened at UCSB i just hope no other team will ever have to go throw….
*through
Thank you Tim and Presidio Sports, I had been searching for coach’s comments for a day now and finally found them, am so glad we have a coach that cares and is on the ball, I’ll add a thought that floats around my brain sometimes——-we have a professional-level team and attitude at UCSB that creates imbalance and envy at times, our fans, our great record crowds……. I’ll pray for patience that the NCAA catches the fever and love for REAL football, as we have done ——-BW ’94:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice Season Gauchos. I’t is disappointing that this program has responded to this adverse situation in attempting to shift blame on other forces outside their own control. The gauchos would be better off accepting responsibility for not playing a better game and beating California than trying to blame it on a ref, or having the unreal expectation that a game is going to be fair.
You had a great season. Please keep things in perspective Gauchos, their are many youth looking up to you and will follow your example. Coach Vom Steeg, you lead (take responsibility for the results) and others will follow. I look forward to a better outcome in 2011.
Ref was unqualified
Referee should never have been allowed to officiate the game:
By MARK PATTON NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Mark Patton
November 23, 2010 5:36 AM
UCSB’s Cup won’t runneth over for the Gauchos after several questionable decisions by an inexperienced referee cost them dearly in Sunday’s 2-1, overtime defeat at California in the second round of the National Championships.
The NCAA should have paid to bring in a top referee. How Mike Kampmeinert of Sacramento ended up with Sunday’s officiating assignment has both baffled and infuriated UCSB officials.
Their check of game summaries this season shows that Kampmeinert has served as the center official in just a couple of NCAA women’s games. He’s worked only the sidelines in two Division 1 men’s contests.
That fact shows that the Pac-10 assigner who got Kampmeinert to officiate the match violated this portion of the NCAA’s own 2010 handbook:
“Policies and Selection of Officials. For the Division I men’s soccer championship, an official is required to work a minimum of six regular-season Division I men’s soccer games in order to be eligible to work any round(s) of the championship.”
If UCSB didn’t like the ref’s qualifications, they should have objected BEFORE the game. After the game is over, and UCSB has lost, is too late to object to a referee’s qualifications.
Seeing as how Kampmeinert is the president of the Central California Soccer Referee’s Association: http://www.ccsra.net/Home/about-ccsra. I highly doubt that he was inexperienced and I doubt even more that the NCAA soccer board appointed an inexperienced referee.
I’m not calling you a liar. I’m just saying that you showed an article by UCSB, there are no sources, and the referee’s bio isn’t public knowledge, so I would question the credibility of the article you’re citing.