Well THAT sucked

The day wasn't bad at all. It was fine / great until the afternoon. Work was busy and good. I left at 2:00pm to get the kids and that was fine. They did their homework, had something to eat, and were all good when I left at 4:10 to head to Horseheads for the varsity lax game between Horseheads & Union-Endicott. The game went okay, but I did have one or two hiccups - that's to be expected. The bad part was the field was horrible and my L ankle was hugely sore. I massaged it all the way to Corning and it started to feel better. Then it was on to the stadium for varsity Corning Hawks vs Ithaca. Again, for most of the game, it went fine. The third guy was a bit of a drag and there were some issues with communications and such, but the referee team worked it out.

THEN, the last 48 seconds happened. I was the trail official, as Ithaca was clearing. I knew the score was close but at the time I wasn't sure what it was exactly. The goalie came out, went to pass, was challenged on the pass and at most, bumped, and then the goalie hacked the Hawk kid and I threw the flag. Well that caused all sorts of pandemonium. Of course, that meant the backup goalie had to come in and the little red coach was furious. Then, the Hawks scored and it was tied. Then they scored again with 0.5 seconds remaining and won the game.

Just so happens that the president of the lacrosse officials board was at the game - I worked the earlier game with him and I knew he was in the stands, but I didn't know he was from Ithaca. Well I got a good talking to about the slashing call after walking off the field and going into the locker room. The thing that I'm not upset about is they weren't arguing whether or not it was a bad call, they were saying I shouldn't have made that call given the game situation. I didn't fight him on it, just took it. Had I argued, I'd be done for sure. I understand what he is saying, but I mentioned to Frank that I always thought we were supposed to call it the same at the end as the beginning. Not so, I guess. Not sure what's going to happen going forward, but it was not a good feeling. I don't feel upset or angry or anything, just pensive. It WAS a slash, for sure. Just a learning experience I guess. But I'm not certain I'll be able to make that adjustment - I'm just a black & white sort of person.