By DAVE RICHTER
Staff Writer
 

With around seven minutes remaining in the game and the Bobcats up 1-0 on a first ha]f goal by first year forward, Lakota Denton there were two penalties called on Bates, one that brought Bowdoin across midheld, and another one only seconds later that put Bowdoin in the penalty box. After being given such great position by the ref, Bowdoin took advantage and scored, tying the game at one. Bowdoin then won the game in the second overtime. The problem I'm sure everyone has with this is that the game should never have gone into overtime.

After Bowdoin scored, the rest of the game looked almost farcical in terms of its officiating. On one play a Bowdoin defender injured Bates mid-fielder, Eric Trickett in what appeared to be a very dirty play. The Bowdoin player took the ball and made a couple of dribbles before being legitimately slide tackled by Bates forward Lakota Denton. The referee gave Denton a yellow card and laughed at the negative reaction from the crowd, all while Trickett was lying on the field in obvious pain. Talk about adding insult to injury. This was merely the grossest example of a series of bad calls which kept Bates from having a chance at wirming this game.

In any sport it is very disheartening to see what should have been a winning effort go to waste due to poor off~ciating. The thing in this case was that these were not tough calls. It was obvious to everyone there that the wrong calls were being made, and even worse that they were affecting the outcome of the game. This is something that fans and players alike encounter in all sports at some point, and every time it is very difficult to accept agony is compounded by the fact that it was at the second to last game of the season against an arch-rival whom we have a history of close games against. The last time a Bates-Bowdoin soccer game was decided by more than one goal was 1986.

The one aspect of the game which I did enjoy was the fan support, lead by the infamous "Team Drunk". While this is of minimal help to the players, it made the game much more fun for everyone else. By the amount and the nature of the heckling, you would have thought Bates was up by ten. While all of the Polar Bear players received some badgering the worse of it went to Bowdoin goalkeeper Tom Casarella. Every time he shouted instructions to his teammates, Bobcat fans would yell at him to shut up. What made this so amusing is that most of the time he did. Because of the attitude of the fans, an otherwise unbearable game was made quite entertaining. The soccer team closes its season next Saturday against North Adams State, and looks to end with a winning record. Hopefully the only deciding factor in this game will be the level of play, and not the officiating.