Last night we played our arch rival in the co-ed league and won 5-4. It was a hard fought game under the lights at Clark field. It would be nice to have more games like this in our co-ed league. Most of the games are not challenging enough.
Last night's game was interesting because the dynamic of the "girl goal" rule came heavily into play twice. For those of you not familiar, the rule is that when a woman scores in the game, it is worth two points. For teams like ours and a couple others (one team has a lot of UL women college players on it), this rule is probably unnecessary. It was established to make sure that women were getting involved in the game. On our team, our women are incredible, so we involve them because it just makes sense. You cannot win a co-ed game if you don't have a full team involved and contributing on the field.
So last night, the rule affected the dynamic of the game on two occasions.
1. We were tied 1-1 and received a PK. I opted to have a man on our team take it because the game was close and in my opinion, in a close game with a good goalie in the opposition net, you put your best PK kicker on the line. If it is a woman, so be it. However, I thought Mark was a good choice and he put it away. There is a possibility that some of my team disagreed with that decision. Not sure. In general though, if the "girl-goal" rule stays in the league, I think someone should evaluate if it even applies to PKs. I would like to remove the rule altogether, but would settle for a PK being worth one point, regardless of the kicker.
2. We were up 4-1 and it really felt like the other team was just about to give up. They had no momentum and we were drilling them. And then a woman scored. 4-3. The game was back on. Mind you, we had scored 4 goals and they had scored 2. But regardless, 4-3. The dynamic of the game completely shifted.
Last nights game reminds me why I get frustrated with the rule. It has played in our favor in the past and last night, it played in theirs. But in my opinion, in soccer, a goal is a goal. It is worth one point. When you try to change that system, you end up looking as silly as the MISL.
3 comments:
Completely agree with your opinion on the girl rule. Even though often plays in our favor, it causes other teams to give up early, making for a lazy game.
I wasn't hesitating when you asked me to take the PK, 2-point rule or not.
Congratulations, guys! Thanks for the update, and I'm glad to hear that AFC is holding its own.
Whiskey: Thanks. I'll let you know when we need a guest player for a tournament, maybe you can fly down.
MD: Nice PK.
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