BALTIMORE, Maryland December 16, 2013 - The referee in the Division I National Championship College Soccer Game on Sunday put on a show of stunning incompetence that will be talked about for ages, and Notre Dame was the direct beneficiary. The official box score from the game will reflect that Notre Dame edged Maryland, 2-1, but it is perfectly safe and, also, totally correct to say that Notre Dame would not have won except for the sad display of officiating rarely seen at this level and especially in so important a game.
The referee, Hilario "Chico" Grajeda, missed three extremely obvious, even glaring, hand ball violations in the Notre Dame penalty box, two of which occurred within ten seconds of each other - and were 100% intentional. The first and most obvious missed call was recorded on national television, and on any other day would have resulted in a penalty kick for Maryland together with a red card for the Notre Dame defender who committed the violation. The Terps were molified at the time of the miss because less than ten seconds later Patrick Mullins controlled a loose ball in the box and rifled home the game's first goal. But by ignoring the grotesque rules violation that brought immediate and loud objections from every Maryland player on the field, Grajeda avoided having to issue the virtually mandatory red card for the violator, a Notre Dame sophmore midfielder. Such a red card would have forced the Irish to play a man down for the remainder of the match. The incident occurred early in the opening half.
The second missed hand ball violation - so discreet that national television completely missed it - was committed by Mullins in controlling the ball after it richocheted off of the Notre Dame player's outstretched arm. The manner in which it was discussed after the game speaks volumes about the incidents and those who committed them and missed seeing them.
"In the heat of the moment, I hit it down with my hand and, like any good forward, I hit it in the net," Mullins told the Associated Press and a Notre Dame student reporter. "That's not who I am and I'm very disappointed in how that play resulted. ... I will regret that one for the rest of my life."
Maryland Coach Sascho Cirovski, upon hearing of Mullins' admission, told the AP that the MLS team which drafts Mullins will get not only a great soccer player, but also a great individual.
"When I build my stadium, I'm going to bronze a statue with him out front," Cirovski said. "He's made from the best stuff on earth. It affected him. It affected him a lot. ... His conscience was hurting."
Playing at equal strength, Notre Dame tied the game just five minutes later. The Irish pushed ahead at about the thirty minute mark of the second half, again when they were at equal strength with Maryland. Then, with Maryland swarming the Irish box with about ten minutes to go, and in the immediate aftermath of a Maryland corner kick, a third obvious hand violation occurred, again followed immediately by obvious angry displays of protest by virtually the entire Maryland team. The television commentators on ESPNU continued to refer to the two Irish violations as game changers, which is at least true, and may well be an understatement. The first violation was clearly an intentional effort by the Irish Defender, identified in the Notre Dame publication "The Observer" as sophomore midfielder Patrick Hodan, to keep Maryland off the score board. Hodan, seeing the Keeper was nowhere near the shot, and also that the shot was going in, made the split-second decision to keep the game scoreless. Positioned on the goal line, Hodan stretched out his arm to a position parallel to the ground and directly into he ball's path. The struck ball hit his outstretched are near the elbow, then richocheted off and back into play. A second later, Mullins controlled and scored. But the violator avoided the deserved red card and Notre Dame was permitted to stay at full strength. Mullins, also, would have received a red card, but of course his violation would never have occurred if Grajeda had simply called the first. In defense of Hodan, he made no effort to hide or disguise his violation, and appeared ready to accept his penalty. The second Irish hand violation was only slightly less obvious. As the ball whisked by the Irish defender (whom this writer cannot now identify), and with the outcome of the game hanging in the balance, he lifted his arm to deflect the ball away from the Irish goal. The path of the ball in the instant before it was interfered with would have taken it across the mouth of the goal and close enough to Patrick Mullins - the nation's leading scorer - to allow him to one-touch a shot on goal. Again, all of the Maryland players in the box - about two-thirds of the eleven man side, raised their arms in anguished protest. Cirovski also screamed in disbelief as he stood just a foot away from an NCAA official stationed between the two teams' benches.
Grajeda is a highly regarded soccer official who has been assigned some of the most important and high profile soccer matches in the country in recent years, including at least one MLS title game. A check of Google does not immediately reveal any history of similar errors. But it is also true that such errors are often suppressed by game and league officials. There is an obvious and understandable fear that criticism of a game official may have future consequences. There is no indication that Grajeda has apologized to Maryland's team or to Cirovski, or if the NCAA intends to take any action against him. Nor is there any indication that Hodan apologized after the game. The Notre Dame publication that quoted Mullins as having apologized did not indicate whether it even asked Hodan for a statement.
Last winter, after game officials made a series of painfully obvious "bad" calls in a nationally televised basketball game at Iowa State University, between Iowa State and Kansas, which changed the outcome of the game, unnamed NCAA officials revealed to a midwest newspaper that the officials who made the calls would be disciplined. The spokesman would not reveal anything else about the NCAA's intentions, such as when the official discipline would occur, what it was, or even what it could be. In fact, there was no way of finding out whether the sanctions were ever actually imposed. Conversely, in a baseball game two seasons ago, a Major League umpire publicly apologized after blowing a call in the ninth inning that prevented a pitcher from accomplishing a perfect game, one of sport's most difficult accomplishments. A pitcher is credited with a "perfect game" when he retires each of the 27 batters he faces, without surrendering a hit or walk, and without hitting a batter with a pitch. The umpire was universally praised by players and fans, and the umpire and player actually became good friends in the wake of the incident.
Possibly in deference to Grajeda's reputation, and in spite of having victory ripped from them in a manner that should never have occurred, the Maryland athletic web site did not even refer to the incidents in their account of the game. The only hint of the two incidents on the Maryland web site is in the official box score, where the Notre Dame team - and not their keeper - is credited with "saving" a shot on goal. The game's two "assistant referees," or linesmen, were Paul Scott and Corey Rockwell. There was no way of determining what, if anything, they did to right the injustice, or even to address it.
Soccer referees often operate as a closed fraternity. In some locations - and Baltimore is one - there are competing organizations of officials. The competition involves the number and quality of officiating assignments each organization gains over the course of a season.
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