Two women’s college soccer players had to be pulled off each other after getting into a bitter scrap during a game Sunday, with the warring forwards banned from their teams’ next two games.
It was just 10 minutes into the second half of the Rutgers vs. University of Massachusetts game in Amherst, Massachusetts, when Gia Girman, a Rutgers forward, was called out on a foul. She was picking herself up off the grass when Ashley Lamond, one of the UMass forwards, came over to scoop up the ball.
Footage from the field shows the two players soon tussling and then slinging punches at each other as they tumble back to the ground. They continued pulling at each other’s hair until they were pulled apart by their teammates.
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What exactly sparked the confrontation isn’t clear, but both players found themselves on the receiving end of a red card. Under National Collegiate Athletic Association regulations, they’re now banned from playing in their respective teams’ next two games.
UMass senior midfielder Bella Recino went on to secure a 1-0 victory over Rutgers with an eleventh-hour goal. With a further four yellow cards issued, two to each team, in the remaining minutes of the game, it’s perhaps just as well the two teams aren’t scheduled to face off on the field again this season.
The Associated Press reports that Rutgers later acknowledged a “scrap” had taken place during the 55th minute, but as of Monday neither team has issued an official statement on the incident.
