The Milligan men’s soccer team had an extra eventful senior night and homecoming game against Pfeiffer University on Oct. 28.
The physical game was terminated at halftime after two red cards had been distributed.
According to senior soccer player Noah Hickerson, the first red card was given to a Pfeiffer player who came up and kicked the referee as the teams were walking to the locker rooms after the first half of the game. The second red card was given when multiple Pfeiffer players then started to go after one of the referees, and others had to hold the players back.
The motivation for this aggression is unclear. Referees were calling fouls on both teams and making fair calls, according to Hickerson.
While it is not in the 2016-2017 NCAA Soccer Rules book, if a referee feels unsafe they can terminate the game.
At the half, the score was 3-0 with Milligan in the lead. The goals were scored by senior Jesse Ramoya and freshman Rhys Borror. However, since the game was terminated at halftime, the match goes down as 1-0 and none of the statistics will count.
Pfeiffer was previously a Division II team and changed to a Division III team in 2016.
According to their website, “Pfeiffer, which has competed at the NCAA Division II level for more than two decades, has made this decision after thorough research by athletics and administration regarding best alignment for Pfeiffer in terms of academics, geography and athletic program.”
Pfeiffer’s record is now 8-8-1. Three years ago in Division II, they were undefeated, and now they went about 50/50.
With this change in division, the ability to give athletic scholarships was taken away. Pfeiffer lost a lot of star players, and their record has been on the decline since.
They have a history of being an aggressive team. According to Tani Houston, a sophomore soccer player at King University, Pfeiffer’s roughness with Milligan was no surprise.
“Yeah, we played them last year and they were really rough. They’re all bigger guys, and they have an aggressive playing style. Most of them are not from the U.S., and that could be why.”