Did you see that goal?
Gilroy High field hockey’s players and coaches sure didn’t.
But tied 1-1 with time ticking away in the second half, the
Mustangs did see their season come to an end on what many members
of the team are calling a phantom goal.
SARATOGA – Did you see that goal?
Gilroy High field hockey’s players and coaches sure didn’t.
But tied 1-1 with time ticking away in the second half, the Mustangs did see their season come to an end on what many members of the team are calling a phantom goal.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Los Gatos’ Alexa Kiel sent a ball into the circle after it was spotted 20 yards from goal following a foul. The strike went in between players of both teams to find the back of the cage, but was originally ruled by referees to be invalid after no one touched it.
Gilroy was awarded possession and about to start it’s own attack when play was stopped by a Los Gatos player picking up the ball to contest the call.
The two referees then huddled before overturning their original ruling, stating that Los Gatos’ Michelle Comeau had redirected the ball for the game-winner.
“Did she touch it?” Gilroy coach Adam Gemar pondered minutes after the game. “[The referees] didn’t know. That was the worst part.
“It sucks to have a controversy on the game-winning goal.”
The bizarre series of events didn’t end there.
Gemar called timeout following the call to get an explanation from the referees when Los Gatos coach Henry Reyes approached, shouting his opposition to a possible overruling of the already overturned call.
“He came in angry,” Gemar said. “I should have been the one that was angry.”
Voicing his displeasure mainly at Gemar, Reyes ended up needing to be restrained by assistants while the call was upheld.
“He was a little out of hand, but it was in the heat of the moment,” Gemar said.
The Mustangs never got close to scoring an equalizer in the final minutes, ending their season in the Central Coast Section semifinals for the second time in four years.
Reyes gave credit to Gilroy for being a highly skilled team, but felt his players were more aggressive in the second and decisive half. The Mustangs did not get a shot on goal in the final 30 minutes.
“I think for us, a 50-50 ball (means) you’re gonna run for it,” he said. “(Our players) did that.”
As for the controversial call, Reyes said “it was what it was. She touched it inside the red circle.”
Gilroy senior midfielder Laura Spellman, who lost in the CCS semifinals as a freshman to Los Gatos, was adamant after the game that there shouldn’t be a question of whether or not it was a goal.
“It should’ve been 1-1 but we can’t really look back at what-ifs,” she said. “It’s a hard loss, especially when you know it’s not true and legit.”
The two goals that were not contestable both came in the first half.
Gilroy got on the board with 24:11 remaining when Elise Ogle slotted a shot from 10 yards out into the bottom-left portion of the cage. She received assists from Spellman and Mandy Jo Torres on the short corner.
Los Gatos answered back with a goal in the final minute of the half when Loree Lewis scored on a rebound following several attempts taken off of a short corner.
The Mustangs’ season ends with a 23-2-2 record, while Los Gatos advances to play Saratoga in the final being held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Willow Glen High School.
