This might not be the right forum for this question but wanted to put it out there somewhere.

In our game Saturday a player from the opposing team reacted to a ball coming off the post. She dove at the ball but realized she wasn't going to get it so she extended her arm and slapped the ball into the goal. She received a yellow card.

Should this be a straight red card?

If my defensive player would have reached her arm out to stop it from going in the goal, it would have been a red card.

Is there a difference?