'No Goal' Call Costs Pierson Field Hockey Its Season in Long Island Championship

Field hockey is a sport that certainly has an intricate set of rules, leading to a number of whistles and stoppages of play. Those rules played a part in the Long Island Class C Championship at Berner Middle School in Massapequa on November 2, when Pierson played Carle Place.

Trailing, 2-1, with 1:15 remaining in regulation, Pierson was awarded a corner play. As usual, senior co-captain Mia Gangemi sent the ball out to the top of the 16-yard circle where fellow senior co-captain Meredith Spolarich received the ball, outside of the circle, then dribbled it back into the circle before rocketing a shot off that easily found the back of the cage, seemingly tying the game at 2-2. With less than 50 seconds on the clock at the time of the goal, the idea of 7 v. 7 overtime hockey seemed more than likely.

But, wait, there was a whistle after the goal.

The official on the play called the goal off, after stating — well after the fact — that Spolarich never received the ball outside of the circle. According to the rules, in that instance, the ball would have had to have touched either a stick or a player, something for it to be a legal goal. Spolarich’s shot only had eyes for the cage, didn’t touch anything, so therefore the official deemed it a no goal.

Play quickly resumed with many of the Pierson players still unsure of what exactly happened and what the call was. Even with only seconds left, Pierson senior Tahnie Sullivan was able to get a shot off, but it was saved by Carle Place senior goalie and co-captain Justina Cavallaro, and the Whalers suffered a 2-1 loss.

Carle Place advanced to the Regional Final on Sunday, when it defeated Roundout Valley (Section IX ), 2-0, to reach the state semifinals this Saturday, November 12, at Centereach High School.

Pierson head coach Kim Spolarich, after getting a quick explanation from the official of why she called the goal off, immediately protested, but because it was a judgment call by the official, a single ruling, or game for that matter, can’t be protested.

Not long after the game, photographic evidence showed that Meredith Spolarich did indeed receive the ball outside of the circle, legally brought the ball back in and legally shot the ball and scored. Pierson Athletic Director Brian Tardif sent this evidence along with a letter stating the team’s case for a protest to Section XI, the governing body of Suffolk County high school athletics. But again, because it was a judgment call, there was nothing anyone could do.

“It’s definitely a horrific, heartbreaking call,” Coach Spolarich said. “It really hurts. We had Mia hitting the ball to Meredith for that final shot. It just really hurts.

“Even when you look at the photo — and I have not watched the video, I’m not torturing myself just yet — but you can clearly see in the photo that Meredith is clearly outside of the circle,” she added. “And there’s some question as to whether or not that’s necessarily a judgment call that the official had to make. And it’s not like it decided the game. We would have went to overtime where you give the girls the opportunity to decide the game.”

Meredith Spolarich, who scored just 5:30 into the game to give the Whalers an early 1-0 lead, said it was frustrating that the goal was called off, even more so when she saw the evidence that clearly her goal should have counted.

“I was carrying out the corner like I usually do, took the shot,” she explained. “I thought it was outside the circle. Once I scored, obviously I thought it was a goal. When she called it back, normally I don’t question the refs. You know, I make a mistake sometimes. I could have totally had it inside. It was a judgment call, I guess.”

“We’ve done that exact play so many times in practice, I knew that it must have gone out and back into the circle. I knew it should have counted,” Sullivan said. “After I saw the photos, I knew it, I wasn’t really shocked at all. I didn’t exactly see it, but, obviously, I still believed it was a good goal.

“A call that close, without taking a second to talk to the other refs, like she was so sure it wasn’t a goal,” she added. “After seeing the photo it was in by a lot.”

Many of the players were clearly upset after the game and didn’t have much time to linger on the field with another game to be played after. All Coach Spolarich and her assistant coach, Heidi Wilson, could do was console their players the best they could and get them back on the bus.

“I guess that’s me and Meredith’s and Mia’s last time on the field and it’s just sad it had to happen that way,” Sullivan said. “It’s probably the best team we’ve had in years, not just playing-wise but the friendship we all had. We wanted it, we didn’t want this to be the last time playing together. It was really sad.

“It was certainly not the best way to end the season, but also not the worst,” Gangemi said. “We got really far, played a really hard game. Afterward, we were all upset because we all knew the ball had come out and Meredith had shot from inside the circle. We are all disappointed, but ultimately it’s a game and it’s the ref’s call.”

One thing that Coach Spolarich did not want to do is blame the outcome of the game on the officials, but it is hard not to in this instance.

“It’s an awful way to end a great season with some wonderful kids who feel like they were robbed,” she said. “And the whole thing, too, is that Heidi and I have emphasized all season that you never want to put yourself in a position where you have to blame the outcome of a game on a bad call. But I do commend the girls for keeping their composure and grace leaving the field in the way that they did. Sportsmanship is something I really value.”

Carle Place junior Mia Babino tied the game at 1-1 early in the second quarter and that was the score at halftime. The Frogs took the lead off an ensuing corner just over five minutes into the second half when junior Marisa Terrone was able to get the ball past Pierson sophomore Cali Wilson, who seemed to be screened on the play.

The game was certainly one of runs, with Pierson dominating at times before Carle Place would take over, which it did for much of the second half. But after calling a timeout with six minutes left in the game, the Whalers seemed to find something that allowed them to take over the game, which led to a pair of corners in the final two minutes, the last of which led to the eventual goal that was called off.

“They definitely made some adjustments throughout the game. We made adjustments, maybe a little bit late in the game, but we had been calling for a timeout for about two minutes before the officials actually granted one to us,” Coach Spolarich said. “We moved some personnel around on the field so that we could use Tahnie’s speed to get up the field.”

The tough conclusion to the season also brings the end of the high school playing careers of not only Gangemi, Sullivan and Spolarich, but also Maddie Cohen, Eleana Merola and Sophia Beech. Most of the girls were on the team last year when it won both county and Long Island titles en route to a state semifinal appearance. Both Gangemi and Spolarich have played and started on varsity the past five years while Sullivan has played the past four years. All three girls could probably play at the next level in college, but all three have said they are putting academics at the forefront of their decisions before figuring out how to keep the sport in their lives.

But one thing was clear from all three departing girls, they cherished their time on the field together.

“It was amazing,” Sullivan said. “I’ve never cared so much until this year. Everything counted and became really serious and it mattered a lot. It was our last time all together.

“I was cleaning out my closet the other day and came across old newspaper articles of when we were in eighth grade, and it’s crazy to see how far Mia and I have come,” Spolarich said. “We were so little as eighth-graders starting on such a young team. It’s special how its all worked out. Tahnie was starting as freshman, but to have been able to play on this team for all five years, again, it’s just crazy how far we have come since then. It’s been really special to have grown up with them and with the sport.

“Of course, it’s very sad to leave the team, but we have really talented people coming up who are going to have so much more of an opportunity to play,” Gangemi added. “Not everyone got the playing time they probably wanted because we did have so many seniors this year, but with Lily [Perello] and Eva [McKelvey] being the top two seniors next year, they’ll bring the team back to the Long Island Championship next year.”