Disciplinary Measures Taken Against Players

A Poly High soccer player was dismissed from the team Thursday after school officials determined he struck an opponent in the groin during post-match handshakes.

Luis Luquin, a junior midfielder, was removed from the team by assistant principal Heather Daims after he was identified as the player who hit a Reseda player after the Regents defeated Poly, 5-1, on Wednesday.

Three other Poly players received one-game suspensions for their actions during the match.

School officials declined to identify any of the players who were disciplined, but team sources confirmed Luquin’s dismissal and suspensions for Erik Calvillo, Jose Torres and Juan Vega--all of whom will miss Poly’s regular-season finale today against North Hollywood.

The suspended players will be reinstated for the playoffs, Daims said. By state rules, all three were already required to miss Poly’s next match because they were ejected from play by referees on Wednesday.

“I’m satisfied that the people most responsible are being punished and that we don’t need to punish the entire team,” Daims said.

The loss to Reseda was Poly’s first of the season after nine victories and three ties. Reseda (14-1-1, 12-1 in the Valley Pac-8 Conference) clinched the conference championship.

The match was marred by rough play and unsportsmanlike conduct that resulted in 13 yellow cards and a red card--10 against Poly. Along with the three Poly players, Reseda’s Rocky Monzon was ejected.

The ill will spread to the parking lot after the game when witnesses said a group of more than two dozen Poly players and supporters confronted Reseda players, coaches and cheerleaders who were waiting for their bus.

Terry Davila, a Cal State Northridge assistant, and Adolpho Perez, Mission College’s head coach, were able to separate the groups.

“All these cars pulled up and there were kids with [baseball] bats,” Perez said. “They rushed the gate but we closed it and told them not to be stupid. It was sad; it could have gotten really ugly.”

Daims said she was investigating the incident.

Daims met with Poly players Thursday and gave them two options: Identify the player responsible for the groin punch and those most responsible for rough play, or forfeit today’s match.

“I left it in their hands to decide whether to not rat on their friends, or to come forward,” Daims said.

Tempers flared between the teams during their first meeting, a match won by Poly, 3-1, on Jan. 17. Two Reseda players and a Poly player were ejected from that match.

During the rematch Wednesday, Reseda celebrated wildly after several goals and two Regent players were issued yellow cards for taunting.