U.S. Soccer dealing with its own domestic-abuse case: Hope Solo

The NFL isn’t the only sports organization dealing with a domestic violence controversy.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team is taking some heat for allowing standout goalkeeper Hope Solo to play in three friendlies despite the fact she is facing a November trial on two misdemeanor charges stemming from a family altercation in June.

But U.S. Soccer officials argue that the case of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Solo are vastly different.

Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after TMZ broadcast a video showing the player punching his then-fiance in the face and dragging her unconscious body out of an elevator at an Atlantic City, N.J., casino last winter. Solo was arrested after allegedly punching her 17-year-old nephew and then attacking the boy’s mother -- Solo’s older half-sister -- when she tried to intervene.

“U.S. Soccer takes the issue of domestic violence very seriously,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said in a statement. “From the beginning we considered the information available and have taken a deliberate and thoughtful approach regarding Hope Solo’s status with the national team.

“Based on that information U.S. Soccer stands by our decision to allow her to participate with the team as the legal process unfolds.”

Gulati was not available for questions but another U.S. Soccer official, who is not authorized to speak for attribution on the matter, said comparisons between the Solo and Rice cases are inappropriate.

The charges Solo faces are misdemeanors, for example, while a grand jury indicted Rice for felony abuse. (Prosecutors declined to put Rice on trial for aggravated assault, allowing him to join a pretrial intervention program instead.) And while there is a video of Rice’s attack, many of the facts in the Solo case are in dispute.

But Solo could face sanction if she loses her case in court. Scott Blackmun, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, told USA Today that “the allegations involving Ms. Solo are disturbing and are inconsistent with our expectations of Olympians. We have had discussions with U.S. Soccer and fully expect them to take action if it is determined that the allegations are true.”