Belmont Walked Off Before Score Ran Up

Long after yanking his team off the field in the middle of a girls’ soccer match against Grant High, Belmont Coach Neal Lafala was still steamed.

“We want to learn and get constructive things out of every experience, but getting the score run up on us is not constructive,” said Lafala, who watched Grant score five goals in 15 minutes Monday before Belmont forfeited the match with 65 minutes to play.

Lafala, whose team has a 1-7 record, got no sympathy from Grant Coach Wilber Quintanilla, who suggested Tuesday the Belmont players were more humiliated by forfeiting the game than by suffering a lopsided defeat.

“As a player, you look up to your coach. What does it say if the coach gives up?” said Quintanilla, whose team, which won the City championship last season, is 9-0 in the Mid-Valley North Conference this season.

Monday’s game was not the first time Grant has overwhelmed an opponent in the past several years, but with seven new girls’ soccer programs joining the City Section this season, the Lancers have faced inexperienced teams more frequently.

City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said this season’s restructuring of the leagues and conferences was based primarily on geography and will be evaluated after the season.

“It’s unfortunate when you get beaten by a large score, but certainly a team walking off a field is something we wouldn’t advocate,” said Fiege, who oversees 28 girls’ soccer teams among the section’s 49 high schools.

Fiege said she will talk to all parties involved and take her findings before the City Section rules committee in the near future.

“I’m not gonna make a big deal out of it,” Lafala said. “Any punishment they deal out I’m willing to accept. I had the best interests of my girls at heart. . . . It was like putting Christians into the lions’ den.”

Lafala said he was more concerned with his players’ self-esteem and physical safety than teaching them lessons in perseverance. Of Belmont’s 16 players, 11 never played soccer before this season, and only three were on the team last season. Belmont has fielded a team since 1989.

The teams are scheduled to play again next Tuesday at Belmont.