Just this weekend, I experienced one of the craziest soccer games in my life. I traveled all the way out to Olympia, to Pioneer Park, for a game against Blackhills F.C.. We, HPFC, played this team last year and took a loss, thanks to the poor officiationg that gave away two unnecessary penalty kicks to the other team. We were determined to get our revenge this year. I started the game at my usual spot, center back, and ended up playing the whole game there. From the very start, you could tell the refs were going to be the same as last year and we would receive no help from them. We had to overcome the odds and win this game on our own. Within the first five minutes, the refs had not called an obvious foul inside their penalty box, which lead to an easy clearance by the keeper. They came back and almost had a shot on goal but their player slipped on the wet, damp grass and fell. The ref, being out of position and not focusing just saw the guy on the ground and called a foul. Luckily, their “star” player blasted the ball nowhere near the goal he was aiming for. This was just a preview of what was to come. The game continued like this, with the ref continuously making bad calls. Our team got more frustrated as the game went on, and the game got rougher and rougher because of it. We were down 3-1 when the madness began. The ball was deep in their territory and went out for a throw-in. From where I was, I couldn’t see much but I hear a loud smack, like the sound of a cleat hitting a shin guard. It turns out, that’s exactly what it was. One of their players had swung his leg as hard as he could at one of our players and hit him directly in the leg. Our player went down, screaming in agony. The ref rushed over there as soon as possible and sent the player off and separated the two teams before any punches were thrown. And believe me, they were about to be thrown. Our team had rushed the field, ready to take the kid out. The players settled down and the ref immediately blew the whistle to end the game once play had restarted. Soon after, the fire department and medics had arrived and were taking care of the injured player. When the medics asked him what had happened, he began with, “Well, it was a frustrating game,” and went on to explain the rest. He had a welt the size of a tennis ball on his shin. Cops had been called and were talking to the kid that kicked him. He got to his feet but couldn’t walk and was carried to his car, to drive an hour back home after a disappointing, stressful, and painful 3-1 loss.