Lyman Memorial boys soccer awarded forfeit after suspended Holy Cross player attends game
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The No. 13-seeded Holy Cross boys soccer team had to forfeit its CIAC Class S first-round tournament game to No. 20 seed Lyman Memorial because a suspended player was on the bench during Saturday's contest in Waterbury.
The CIAC confirmed the forfeit in a release Monday. The Holy Cross player in question received two yellow cards in an NVL tournament quarterfinal loss, according to Holy Cross athletic director Mike Giampetruzzi. That meant he had to sit out the game against Lyman Memorial.
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Appendix E in this season's CIAC boys soccer information packet says the following in bold: "The ejected coach or player cannot be in attendance at the game(s) for which he/she is serving their suspension."
Giampetruzzi said he was notified Monday morning.
"I knew the suspension was intact for the next game. I didn't realize he had to not be on the bench," Giampetruzzi said. "He was nowhere in uniform, he was not part of warmups. He sat on the bench. It was my mistake as the administrator and unfortunately, we lost the game because of that mistake."
Lyman Memorial will head to Stonington on Tuesday to face the fourth-seeded Bears at 4:30 p.m. The remainder of the Class S boys soccer second-round games are being played Monday as scheduled.
There is more to the story.
Holy Cross and Lyman Memorial went to penalty kicks Saturday. The teams were tied after five kicks apiece in the first set. Holy Cross missed its first kick of the second set, and Lyman Memorial converted its attempt. Officials then mistakenly declared Lyman the winner. The format calls for up to five kicks per team in each set, but officials used a sudden-death format to determine the winner.
Both sides questioned the sudden-death procedure. "It wasn't a great exchange between my coach and the assistant ref," said Giampetruzzi, who said all of the officials picked up their stuff and left.
Prior to the forfeit, Lyman Memorial athletic director Brandon Strout told The Day on Sunday that "we're definitely not happy" about having to go back and finish the penalty kicks properly.
"My coaches asked the officials, ‘We have to continue, correct?' And the officials told them, ‘No, it was over,'" Strout said. "At no point did anybody protest. They shook hands. (The players) found out on the way back home 20 minutes later. An emotional rollercoaster, some kid was just a hero and feeling great. We were the underdogs. To have that emotional, good feeling taken away is pretty tough for the kids. I feel bad for the kids."
Strout didn't immediately return a phone message and an email from CT Insider seeking comment Monday.
Usually, an official's decision is final. But in this case, according to a CIAC official, "This matter concerns the failure to follow the prescribed tournament procedure. It is not a dispute over an official's in-game decision, interpretation or application of a playing rule."
On Sunday, the CIAC told the teams to resume the shootout Monday at 3:30 p.m. at a neutral site at Middletown's Vale Forge, sparing Lyman Memorial a drive back to Waterbury from Lebanon.
The forfeit made that resumption unnecessary.
"There was a lot wrong with the whole game. Unfortunately, Lyman Memorial is moving on because of my mistake," Giampetruzzi said.
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