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The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- October 26, 1998 Association-wide
Ready to RUMBLE
Women's soccer becoming more of a contact sport as skill levels increaseBY VANESSA L. ABELL STAFF WRITER She is tough, determined and dedicated. She has a signature ponytail, and sweat is running down her face. Her vibrant, shimmering uniform is streaked with brown and green from the earth and the grass beneath her cleated feet. She'll go one-on-one for any free ball, and she doesn't hesitate to slide tackle through mud and water, taking out whatever may be in her way.
Many things go into a winning women's soccer program. Strong players with a lot of endurance tend to be the stuff from which champions are made. Quality coaching also may help a team achieve. Tough training routines, weightlifting and aerobic exercise all play a part. But there's another tendency on the rise in the makeup of a collegiate women's champion: the increasingly aggressive nature of play. Is women's soccer becoming more physical? Many say it is. And there is evidence that teams that are more physical end up succeeding in championship games more often than not. In Division I, three of the last five champions tallied more fouls than their opponents in the championship game. The last five Division II champions outfouled their opponents in the title game. In fact, 10 of 15 divisional title teams in the last five years earned a crown when fouling more than their opponents. Rob Donnenwirth, head women's soccer coach at North Carolina Wesleyan College, said the numbers are not a coincidence. He recalled a previous season while coaching at another school, in fact, where the numbers were unanimous. "Every game we outfouled an opponent, we won," he said. "The two games we fouled evenly, we tied. When you are going for balls, fouls happen. We didn't preach that, but it happened." Donnenwirth said it's not just the hustle for loose balls that can create the aggressive play, but the space in which play is contained. "If you're playing on a small field, it results in physical play." he said. "Teams can't really spread it out. It's easier for physical teams to take advantage of that." Some members of the women's soccer community are not enthusiastic about this aggressive trend. They believe that the winning team should display the highest standards of conduct and sportsmanship and that if fouling is becoming the way to win, then perhaps it should be penalized more severely. "We really need to make some changes in the women's game -- as well as in the men's game and the world game -- and punish teams more severely," said Jerry Smith, head women's soccer coach at Santa Clara University. "In women's college soccer, the more aggressive team tends to win the game more often." Chris Petrucelli, women's coach at the University of Notre Dame, said he would prefer that the best soccer team win the game, not the team that fouls the most. "But we're seeing it more and more," he said of the increase in aggressive play. "Many teams use it as a way to compete against better teams." Petrucelli said in many cases the tendency to foul is perhaps a lesser-skilled player's best chance to "level the playing field." "Sometimes they find it's their only way to compete," he said. "It's a common statement that's accepted by most players -- if you foul a more skilled opponent early, she'll back off. It creates an attitude of 'this is how I can compete.' " Minimal consequences Soccer is unique in that it does not track each player's fouls. When a referee calls a foul on a player, he or she isn't even identified. If a player commits an offense and the referee stops play, the referee grants a free kick to the offended team. Even the scorebook shows only a team total of fouls rather than individual player accumulations. In other contact sports, foul play is reprimanded immediately after the call is made. In most, players must leave the game after a foul or an accumulation of fouls. Soccer does have a card-accumulation system for more serious infractions, but the common fouls in soccer are akin to personal fouls in basketball. Players, of course, can be disqualified for accumulating five fouls in basketball, but in soccer they go unidentified -- and unpenalized. Smith said that in soccer, the free kick granted to the fouled team is not enough of a deterrent. "It's not a significant punishment for fouling," he said. "Very rarely do free kicks end up in a score." He said, in fact, that it is practically beneficial to foul an opponent. Tough to enforce Another factor frequently cited as a contributor to the increased foul play is the lack of calls being made by the officials. "The rules do address offenses that are penalized with free kicks," said C. Cliff McCrath, head men's coach at Seattle Pacific University and secretary-rules editor of the Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee. "But some feel that the rules may not be interpreted consistently by the officials. One of the more heinous fouls, for instance, is when a player is getting kicked in the ankle and is fouled or slide-tackled from behind. The player doesn't get the shot off and often no foul is called." Petrucelli agrees that the difference in how rules are interpreted plays a factor. A member of the rules committee, Petrucelli said there is sufficient language in the rules book pertaining to persistent fouling, but that it is still a matter of interpretation by the referees. Physical culture McCrath said the culture of physical play is becoming an increasingly accepted fact in women's soccer. Even some recent school posters and media guides have sported teasers and slogans like, "Ever wonder what happened to those little girls who ripped the head off Barbie?" or "Playing with Fire." Perhaps the recent boom in sponsorship numbers and the focus on improving skills at the grass-roots level has fostered a better talent pool that in turn has created a higher level of competition within the intercollegiate game. Particularly at the top level of each division, it's not one or two teams that are throttling the field, but 10 or 15. The competition to win it all has become more intense. Amy Hackett, chair of the Division I Women's Soccer Committee and associate athletics director at the University of Utah, said she has witnessed increased physical play in her seven years at the Division I Women's Soccer Championship games. "I see a lot more jersey grabbing in today's women's game," she said. "Women's soccer players want to show their physical ability in a game. They're not tempered anymore." And whether or not that's a good thing perhaps is -- like calling the fouls in the first place -- a matter of interpretation.
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She is today's collegiate women's soccer player. She is not afraid -- and polite play may not be her top priority.