Any Cheney athlete, coach or fan — current or former — will tell you it’s always difficult to play in Clarkston. Especially team sports, where sometimes questionable officiating leads to a feeling of playing two on one.
That was the case again last Thursday in the Cheney High girls’ soccer team’s elimination round playoff game with the host Bantams, a match up between the Great Northern League’s No. 3 and No. 4 seeded teams. Except for an early defensive breakdown, the Lady Blackhawks played the Bantams even, if not better at points, but were thwarted with questionable calls breaking up momentum in their 1-0 season-ending loss.
“A lot of things were going against us in that game,” Cheney head coach Nels Radtke said.
The game’s only score came in the seventh minute. The Cheney defense shifted a bit too far to Clarkston’s strong side of the field, and a shot at goal sent by Brook Morrow deflected off the goal to the backside of the defense right to Ryen Nicholas, who sent home a shot into the open net.
Other than that, Radtke said the Lady Blackhawks played well. He credited Clarkston for employing a strategy of substituting every few minutes in order to break up the flow of the game.
The Bantams also got a little help in that regards from the officials, making some questionable calls against Cheney while also missing others, Radtke said forward/midfielder Kendyl Cone had a clean breakaway thwarted when she lost the ball after getting “sandwiched” between two Clarkston players.
The Lady Blackhawks were also hit with three red card ejections. Two came during the game on assistant coach Matt Pollack and senior midfielder/defender Elizabeth Fix and the other on Radtke after the game as he tried to find out from the official why Fix had been yellow carded questioning a foul on Abby Hammermeister. As captain, Fix is allowed to talk to the officials, Radtke said, and should not have received the card.
Part of the problem, Radtke said, may be that Clarkston uses Idaho officials, who have different rules than Washington soccer officials. As an example, in Washington a player receiving a yellow card is not required to leave the field, whereas in the case with Fix, Radtke said the official ordered her to leave the field.
Officiating aside, Radtke was proud of how his team played, especially in the second half. Clarkston out shot Cheney 8 – 3, although Radtke said the Lady Blackhawks total should have been six. Reba Eaton, playing in place of regular goalkeeper Paige Lewis who was out with a concussion, had seven saves.
“She played really well,” Radtke said.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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