Well I was at the Dorman- Irmo game. I do have to agree the officiating was terrible. I was sitting in the stands on the side of all the controversy. My view was really good. My take on the situation is that ultimately the right calls were made. The journey was astonishingly painful. The bottom line: there was a swatted ball, but it happened in the box. I just was not sure if it was the Irmo player or the Dorman player who swatted the ball. That goal should have counted. The free kick also angled towards the back of the goal, so it was a good goal. The goal scored at the end happened after the clock expired. When the keeper touched that ball is when the clock expired. I was watching the clock. I personally think a play should allow to finish, but that is not how soccer works, and I have been burned before on similar instances.
I to was horrified by the level of officiating. In fact it blew most of the season. There was one game where one of our players got a concussion, and the coach received a yellow card for telling the ref the game was out of control and people are getting hurt. The game could have been handled better. All I have to say is that I thought the Irmo team had a lot of class by their action at the end of the game. They far exceed their cross lake rivals who lets say have none what so ever. The Irmo coach and players held their heads high after the game and gave sincere congrats to the Dorman players.
The bottom line is that is was a great game. That was the most people I have ever seen at a soccer game in SC. It should also serve as a bell weather to the state officials that they need to do something about the quality of their refs. My daughters play for Dorman’s arch rivals, but ultimately I do think the right calls were made. I just don’t think that any call should have been made, since about 5 other hand balls were ignored. It is just a shame that one was called that altered the game. Lets not forget Dorman lost a goal because of the that hand ball call. They just had enough skill to get it back on the next play with a shot that hit the cross bar.