I have to question the coaching style when a team is up 7-0 and the players are still viciously taking out other players. It wasn't the first serious foul of the game either. Earlier St. Joe's hammered another Rowland Hall player hard enough to give her a concussion.

I was at the game and I have never seen a game as clean as this one. I have participated in 3A, 4A and 5A games and let me tell you that is physical. This game was as mild as it can be. Actually I hardly saw any contact with two or three occasions.

The referees didn't give out any yellow cards during the game because they didn't need to. The game was well played with an occasional physical play, but it was not even close to a physical battle like soccer fan wants everyone to believe. Soccer fan if you want to see physical battles, then watch 5A and 4A soccer, then we would like to hear your comments about this game today.

Hmmm, sounds like we've got some St Joe's fans commenting. I've seen futbol at local, national, and international levels over the last 30 years -- no need to school me. And I don't have a player on either team. Kids often get hurt worse in less skilled games and with the negative press lately on girls'injuries, coaches might re-consider whether that big goal is really worth it. I do hear that St Joe's is gunning for a season of shut-outs. Maybe that explains the lack of sports-person-ship over a 7-0 game?

Go Millard! We are going to score 20 goals against Rowland Hall. You have not seen anything yet.

Maybe a girl's soccer coach could comment on this:

Why has it become such a physical sport? It seems that a girl player will try to knock the other one down and out. I saw one instance where a player then stood and gloated over the fallen girl. Hope this is an isolated case.

Are some girls more prone to this than others, or is it 'coached' or encouraged by a coach?

Millard fan: until you've played someone of note and notched a victory in said game, you have no room to be talking about scoring 20 on anyone.

Soccer fan: you're trying to make the unfortunate injury sound like a concerted attempt to injure, but the article gives no indication that was the case. It sounds more like two girls aggrsively going after a loose ball in the box; one attempting to save a goal, the other to score the goal. Nothing about that sounds insidious.

Final note: I hope the young lady from Rowland Hall isn't hurt seriously and is able to return to action soon, which sould be the focus of most of the comments here.

The game was tough and Rowland Hall played very well. This was the best game that any team has given St. Joe's in many weeks, and the injured player (#28) played an outstanding game. If it wasn't for the play of # 28 the score would have likely been higher. She (# 28) was the fastest kid on the field and played a good clean agressive game and I was sorry to see her get injured. I hope that she is feeling better today and look forward to seeing her playing against us for years to come. Sorry, that the Rowland Hall fans/team thought St. Joe's was being un-sportsman like. From the perspective of a St. Joe's parent, we were playing the defending 2A champions and the intesity of the game reflected our respect for your abilities not intentional un-sportman like conduct. # 28, hope you are feeling better, your a great player.

This was a relatively clean game and the referee's did a great job in managing the game, in previous years this game has been a lot more physical, with a lot of trash talk between players. Rowland Hall over the years has had a great program and the games have been close. I believe Rowland Hall graduated several seniors that were contibutors to their success, while St Joe is a young team with only 3 seniors in the starting line up, 2 defenders and the center mid. This and the St Joe team is a talented group of athletes that play a possession game and they for each other is the reason for the success they've had this year.

My apologies. Didn't mean to so sound critical.Both St Joe's and Rowland Hall are good schools that play some great soccer. It simply struck me that in a 7-0 game an injury severe enough to be written in the newspaper seems unusually aggressive when suffered towards the end of a 7-0 game. My comments are out of concern for recent reports about injuries, not personal about either of these particular teams.

I am assuming it is an isolated situation. When i coach myt girls i teach them to be physical but only to protect themself from injury. I have noticed in my 10 years of coaching girls that they are more likley to be "dirty" if they are less skilled. If you watch the great teams of the state (ie. Lone Peak, Alta, Brighton, Orem) you will notice that it is a much less Physical Game than those of less skilled teams(I wont name them). This is because the less skilled teams need to play physical soccer to make up for thier lack of skill. The boys game is physical but in a dirty way instead of just knocking players down. So to maybe answer your question. It is both taught and inherited, i believe based on level of play.

Soccer fan For your information there was no foul called when the Rowland Hall player was injured. Futbol is a contact sport. Review of video shows contact between the RH keeper and the injured player prior to her hittng the ground. There was no viscious attack and no malicious intent by the St. Joe's player. It easily could have been the St. Joe's girl who was hurt. Glad everything is ok with the injured girl.

Millard played for the state championship so just because they are a small school doesn't mean they can't play with the private schools. You must also consider that the person talking about scoring twenty goals is probably just a student trying to be funny. Millard is a good team.St. Joe's is also a good team and Rolland Hall was too. Don't judge teams because of their location because they can't help who they play. I agree with you when you say that it doesn't sound like a foul. Soccer is a contact sport and if they were in the box it definately sounds like one was trying to score and the other was trying to save it. I hope she is okay though. Especially since it sounds like a neck injury

soccer is a contact sport without the pads. My daughter is a senior at LP and she has suffered three serious head concussions over the past 6 months in club ball. She was fortunate with the last concussion that it didn't crack her skull. I continue to feel that penalties are not called to protect the girls when they should be and perhaps new rules need to be instituted into soccer to protect the players just like football does every year.

Watching the high school game is heart wrenching because high school referees continue to give warnings and verbal consultations instead of controling the game with yellow cards for "fouls".

Dangerous play: charging into from behind, swinging arms, jumping in cleats up etc. is a foul and the offending player should be carded.

The high school player deserves to be protected to preserve the integrity of the match.

hi