Four players ejected as fight ends Merced-Golden Valley girls soccer game early
.JPG "Golden Valley’s Angela Gaeta is pushed to the ground by a Merced’s Evelyn Flores (10) after Gaeta threw a punch at a Merced player during a game on Thursday night at Veterans Stadium. Four players were ejected and the game was stopped with 16 minutes and 30 seconds left in the match.")
An ugly scene that saw a punch thrown and a player pushed to the turf during a fight caused an early stoppage to the Golden Valley-Merced girls soccer game at Veterans Stadium on Thursday night.
Four players were ejected and the game was stopped with 16 minutes and 30 seconds left in the second half. The game finished with Golden Valley awarded a 2-0 victory.
However, the brawl will have ramifications for both teams moving forward in the playoffs next week.
“It’s never happened to me before,” said Golden Valley coach Ashley Faraone, who ran onto the field to hold junior Cynthia Gutierrez back for further escalating the situation. “I just wanted to make sure the girls were safe. I didn’t want it to get bigger.”
Both teams played a physical game in the first matchup won by Golden Valley 1-0 on Jan. 21 at Merced.
.JPG "MER_Soccer (1).JPG")
This game was also physical throughout as Golden Valley built a 2-0 lead in the first half behind goals from Yanell Ramirez and Kayla Perez.
Things turned ugly midway through the second half as Merced’s Analiese Flores and Golden Valley’s Angela Gaeta had an altercation with Gaeta taking a swing at Flores. Merced’s Evelyn Flores, who is the older sister of Analiese, then came from behind and pushed Gaeta to the floor.
Golden Valley athletic director Matt Thissen was near the altercation and helped break up the fight. Coaches and administrators from both schools also came on the field to keep the situation from escalating.
Analiese Flores, Evelyn Flores and Gaeta were all immediately given red cards and ejected from the game. Moments after the teams were separated, the referee also handed out a red card to Gutierrez.
With Golden Valley (8-1-3 CCC) and Merced (6-5-1) both qualifying for the playoffs, the four players would be forced to sit out the first game of the playoffs because a red card comes with a one-game suspension.
“We’re going to try to contest the second red card (on Gutierrez),” Faraone said.
“I need to see the video, but based off the official and what I heard from our administrator, I’m likely going to go with what they called,” said Merced athletic director Paul Hogue, who wasn’t present at the game.
.Faraone agreed with stopping the game after the fight.
“Absolutely, with us both going to the playoffs we didn’t need another negative outcome,” she said. “It was probably best to end it there.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 10:25 PM.
