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First off, let me reiterate: this lead official was not going to call a PK in the run of play, or even a defensive foul in a dangerous position, unless someone left a limb on the field. Lots of contact both ways by defenders let go, while some really ticky-tack fouls were called on offensive players.
There is a school of thought that referees should "let the players decide the game," and not call many fouls as the playoffs get deeper. The problem with that is, by not calling fouls, the referee is deciding the game in a different direction.
That nearly played out today. Stanford was a MUCH more skilled team than the Gators. Florida was a MUCH bigger team than Stanford, and showed little hesitancy about using their superior size to plow over, through and around Cardinal players.
The game started off brilliantly, as Chi worked some of her left-footed magic, cutting across the top of the box from right to left, then curling in toward the endline, getting around 2-3 Florida defenders before firing a ball far post for Taylor Uhl to neatly tuck home from about 5 yards out. 1-0 Stanford, less than 4 minutes into the game.
But the Cardinal promptly gave the goal right back. One of the few fouls called in the defensive half led to a Gator free kick from about 35-40 yards out, far enough away that Campbell didn't even set up a wall in front of the ball. In a weakness that was to show up again, Florida got a lot of big bodies on smaller defenders in the Stanford penalty area, and as the ball was flighted in, one of those defenders (hard to make out who in the web stream) rose up and got just enough of the ball to deflect it into their own goal, leaving Jane no chance at a save.
That was the score at halftime, leading to the absurd sight of Stanford being tied 1-1 not having given up an official shot to the Gators. Stanford had dominated the run of play, and had several chances to score a second, but seemed content to hold the ball and make Florida chase.
The opening portion of the second half was more of the same. Stanford gave away its first corner kick, but dominated the run of play for the first 10-12 minutes.
Did I mention how physical the play was? A few examples: first half, a bouncing ball forces Campbell to come out and slide to grab it. As she grabs it, Florida's Savannah Jordan slides directly into her body - no contact with the ball, and late. In EVERY league I've ever played, that's a yellow card. Nope. Barely a foul. In the second half, Uhl gets through and is chopped down, but is whistled for being offsides. Hannah Farr, pressing up on one of the Gators' towering midfielders, gets an elbow swung directly into her face. No foul. Farr, not to be outdone, comes in with a flying body block on a bounding ball to the same player about 30 seconds later. No foul.
All of that physical play was either in the midfield or in a team's defensive half. A few times, however, an offensive player was trying to get through or around a defender trying to shield the ball. Very little contact would result in a foul.
Florida had a run of possession about 15 minutes into the second half that led to a dangerous sequence in front of Campbell, with the ball pinballing around at the post about 4 yards out before Jane could pounce and grab it through about 6 bodies, 3 from each side.
Shortly after, another foray forward by Chi, who was tormenting the Gators down the left side all night. She beats her player toward the endline, about 6 yards off the left post, and gets scythed down from behind as she lines up a shot. No foul. Corner kick. The interesting thing was, it didn't look like the defender touched the ball; Chi was touching it onto her left foot to shoot as the defender plowed into her legs, and the ball trickled over the end line.
Stanford was for the most part on the front foot, but as they pressed forward, more space was opening up between their defensive line and the midfield. Florida started to find some space for their midfielders to run at the defense, and got a player through wide right, whom Liedle took with a tough slide tackle from behind to clear the ball away. Again, could've easily been called a foul and a PK, but the ref had established the rules of the game at that point, and at least she was consistent.
Stanford got another sequence of corner kicks, and on the third, Andi Sullivan found Kendall Romine on the back post, and the senior nodded in a header to give the Cardinal a 2-1 lead with a little less than 16 minutes remaining. But they again gave it right back. A long ball flighted in from the left wasn't called or collected by Campbell, and Liedle, working backwards under pressure, headed away for a corner kick. The corner came near post, and out of a jumble of big bodies, Florida's Havana Solaun basically bundled the ball in with her body. How Stanford was unable to clear what was a fairly low driven ball to the front post was unclear. I wished for a replay, because the webstream didn't allow you to back up, and I was wondering whether she had some blockers in front of her on Stanford defenders. But in any case, 2-2 with just under 12 minutes remaining.
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