Coaches, Players Suspended After High School Soccer Brawl

A fight broke out between Tolman and Woonsocket high schools during the Rhode Island girls state soccer championship a couple weekends ago, and yesterday the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Principal's Committee on Athletics handed down the punishments.

Both coaches and nine students have been suspended, although Tolman coach Belmiro Pereira seemed baffled by the decision.

"I don't think they can justify why I'm getting three games, and the other coach is on the field and pushing players left and right and I'm on the bench."

Immediately following the fight, Woonsocket coach Kathleen Fagnant told Providence's WPRI that, "I know I pride myself and my girls on sportsmanship. And not to put a blame on anybody, it could be us too, we could have been going back and forth," she said. "We had the advantage, and we had good spirits, so I'm not going to take the fall for that."

She also received a three-game suspension.

The Providence Journal reports that "Penalties ranged from two games for leaving the bench to five games for fighting to one year for a Tolman player, most likely for instigating the incident." Seems sorta steep, particularly after watching New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert spend 90 minutes assaulting most of the BYU soccer team only to get what amounted to a slap on the wrist. But this is high school, where young minds are molded, and sometimes, lessons must be learned.

Still, I can't help but think that this never would have happened if dodgeball had been an integral part of the curriculum.