2nd half rainstorm wipes out YC soccer opener, ends in ‘no contest’
Mother Nature had her way with the Yavapai College men’s soccer team’s 2013 season and conference opener Thursday night at Mountain Valley Park.
After a 90-minute delay due to lightning in the area, referee Matt Stewart ruled the game a “no contest” with the Roughriders leading Chandler-Gilbert 2-0 and just 26 minutes and 40 seconds left in the second half.
College soccer rules state that a match must go at least 70 of the 90 minutes of regulation for it to count in the standings. Yavapai would have needed only 6 more minutes to make the game official.
Stewart said all stats from Thursday’s match will be nullified, and that it will be ACCAC athletic administrator Greg Silcox’s decision whether it’s re-played.
However, Yavapai coach Mike Pantalione said afterward that the match must be rescheduled because it’s a league game.
“The officials did a good job – they’re going by the book,” he said. “They’re under the direction of athletic trainers, who are monitoring the situation minute by minute. Safety of the players is primary.”
The coach added that it’s a matter of both Yavapai and Chandler-Gilbert determining a “rain date,” which he said the ACCAC allows one per each half of the regular season.
On Thursday, the NJCAA preseason No. 5-ranked Roughriders took a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute and clung to the narrow margin until they scored again in the final minute of the first half to carry a 2-0 lead into the break.
At that point, lightning and rain from a fast-moving thunderstorm were moving rapidly toward the field. Officials moved quickly to get the second half going, and it went off without a hitch until the lightning simply came too close.
For the ensuing 90 minutes, rain fell sporadically and lightning continued to flash close by.
Around 8:40 p.m., Stewart called the game when the intervals in between lightning flashes were spaced too close together.
This past weekend, almost the exact same thing happened to Yavapai when it tried to play a scrimmage against Embry-Riddle at Ken Lindley Field. The game was called on Saturday because of lightning, and again on Sunday when the teams tried a second time.
“We attempted a kickoff with Embry-Riddle on Saturday and never got the match started due to lightning,” Pantalione said. “We rescheduled it for Sunday and essentially maybe got 30 minutes of play in before the match was halted similar to tonight.”
The Roughriders will attempt to continue their stretch of three straight home games to begin the season against Glendale this Saturday at Ken Lindley Field in Prescott. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m., weather permitting.
Pantalione said that in the 25 years he’s been the YC coach, he could recall play being delayed once or twice, but soon being resumed.
“Never did we get this far into a match where we had to come back at a later date and replay it,” he added.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature may have at least one more say as to when Yavapai’s season truly gets under way.
“You’re looking at (more rain) coming in from the south here, with a match on Saturday as well as (next) Thursday,” Pantalione said. “The forecast is not very promising, so we may be moving back two other games as well.”