On September 3, the boys soccer team played the highly ranked DeSmet soccer team in a well fought, tough game; however, the Spartans just barely fell short in a 1-0 loss. The boys played in what they thought was a well-played, yet unfair game, not because of the other team, but because of the referees.

During the game, junior Logan Morris, scored the game tying goal. The team celebration was stopped short when they realized the game had kept on going. The referees did not count the goal. The teammates, coaches, and Spartan spectators were confused and angry to why the goal wasn’t counted.

From the other side of the field, Spartan goalie, Nathan Smith, was able to witness his team work up the field through the very skilled, tough team of DeSmet.

”It was unfair and unlucky that the ref wasn’t in position to see the goal and we heard the center ref say that it went in but the AR (ref on the sideline) didn’t put his flag up or make a signal, he couldn’t give us the goal,” explained Smith. “When we finally broke through the barrier against such a good, strong, organized team like DeSmet, who’s had a great history in the past, like going to state last year. It’s hard for me to watch us do so well and then for us to get robbed and then for us to end up losing because we weren’t given the chance we could have had.”

One player who especially felt robbed was Morris, who actually scored the goal.

“I was very angry,” said Morris,“It was hard on me because I was like ‘Man! I scored against DeSmet!’”

The entire team along with Morris were angry along with all the Spartan spectators.

“I knew it was in, and we all started walking back towards half because everyone knew it had gone in, and when the ref didn’t call it, there was an instant reaction from everybody,” explains Morris. “Everybody was yelling at the ref, I got in the ref’s face, coach yelled at the ref.”

Tensions throughout the rest of the game were high and the Spartans pushed forward however the game ended in a 1-0 loss to DeSmet.