End to the Splash’s Season Is Not Pretty

The Splash’s season ended Tuesday night with a 6-3 loss to Sacramento in the first round of the Continental Indoor Soccer League playoffs at Arco Arena.

And the end was not pretty.

At the finish, Splash player/coach Dale Ervine was going face-to-face with the opposing coach, goalkeeper Ruben Fernandez was being restrained from climbing into the stands and three players and an assistant coach were giving officials more than an earful.

From the Splash players’ point of view, the end result was undeserved.

The Splash players were angry over the officiating of senior referees Brian Hall, Tim Weyland and Terry Mashino, who assessed Anaheim for 10 minutes in penalties with fewer than 11 minutes gone in the first quarter.

“When you play nearly 500 indoor games,” said Splash defender Terry Rowe, “you know when you’re supposed to win and not supposed to win.”

And the Splash, which controlled much of the action, believed it was supposed to win, until the barrage of penalties.

The penalties resulted in a 3-0 Sacramento lead, with two of the Knights’ goals coming on the power play.

John O’Brien made it 3-1 in the final minute of the first quarter, and it remained that way until Bernie Lilavois’ deflection of a shot by Ervine made it a one-goal game 1 minute 30 seconds into the fourth.

Sacramento’s Ricky Villa, who scored one goal this season, knocked in a rebound off Splash goalkeeper Ruben Fernandez (14 saves) with 4:35 left, and then Sacramento scored two goals against the sixth attacker, sandwiched around Paul Agyeman’s goal off Shane Hickson’s pass with 2:35 remaining.

Also scoring for Sacramento was Mark Thomas, who had two goals, John Garvey and Chris McDonald, who had five goals in the series.

Knight goalkeeper Dan Madsen finished with 20 saves.

The Splash dominated play from the outset and finished with a 43-24 shooting advantage.

“And that’s just shots on goal,” Ervine said.

The Splash still could have won had it put away its chances.

“[The officials] didn’t give us a chance,” said Rich Ryerson. “These are big games, intense games, and if you’re not given the opportunity to tackle hard . . . “

Or tackle at all.

Fernandez was called for tripping 6:48 into the game.

Even assistant coach Mike Fox got a yellow card for dissent.

When Sacramento called timeout with 1:01 remaining, Ervine and Knight Coach Keith Weller went face-to-face.

“They wanted to rub it in and let it digest a little,” said Ervine.

Sacramento will meet Seattle for the division title. The best-of-three series opens Saturday in Sacramento.