The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- September 28, 1998

Division I -- Three soccer student-athletes reprimanded

The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Committee has reprimanded Clemson University student-athlete Pablo Webster and University of North Carolina, Charlotte, student-athletes Jim Kunevicius and Christian Lund for their actions during the first round of the 1997 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.

The committee reprimanded Webster for striking the opposing goalkeeper in the throat with his forearm. The committee normally would have issued a one-game suspension to Webster, but since he was red-carded for the incident, he was required to sit out the next game anyway. Instead, the committee decided to issue a public reprimand of Webster and withhold per diem payment to Clemson for Webster's behavior.

Kunevicius was disciplined for violently head-butting an opposing player during a first-round game. The committee decided to issue a public reprimand of Kunevicius, withhold transportation and per diem payment for Kunevicius, and issue the former player a two-year NCAA championships suspension.

Because Kunevicius was a senior, the action means that if he is affiliated with any NCAA member institution that would qualify for any NCAA championship in the next two years, he would be ineligible to participate as a coach. It is Kunevicius' responsibility to keep the NCAA national office notified as to any such employment.

If Kunevicius had been an undergraduate, he would have been suspended for two NCAA championships and the committee would have recommended that North Carolina-Charlotte suspend him from the soccer program indefinitely.

Lund was reprimanded for reacting inappropriately after being clipped by an opposing player, who subsequently received a yellow card. Lund also was yellow-carded, but the committee felt his behavior warranted further action in accordance with the Association's misconduct provision. The committee decided to issue a public reprimand of Lund, withhold transportation and per diem payment for Lund and suspend him from the next NCAA championship game in which he would otherwise be eligible to participate.

"The committee was disappointed in the behavior of these student-athletes and strongly believes that the championship should not be tarnished by such behavior," said Jon LeCrone, chair of the Division I Men's Soccer Committee. "These types of actions only serve to discredit the institutions, coaches, student-athletes, and the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. We want to emphasize that this behavior has no place in NCAA championships competition."