A contentious referee and multiple yellow cards being dealt out caused unwanted stress to The New School Narwhals soccer team at their latest game. The Narwhals came up on the short end of a physical, defensive tug of war this weekend.
The Culinary Institute of America Steels were able to beat the Narwhals 1-0, dropping the Narwhals’ record to 2-3-1.
Steels senior Kenneth Bernardi scored the match’s only goal on a penalty in the 78th minute. He was hit in the penalty box by Narwhals junior Dardan Bakaj. Bakaj came swooping in from Bernardi’s right side while they were vying for the ball. The call cost the Narwhals the game.
“I think we got into his head,” Narwhals captain Ashim Joshi said about the lead ref. Joshi is a senior who plays both defense and midfield.
“All I was saying was ‘I’m protecting my players. I’m a captain, please talk to me, don’t talk to my players. If there’s any problem, please talk to me.’ He was like, ‘Get the fuck out.’ He was very, very rude,” Joshi said.
But Narwhals coach George Ellis said that the referees aren’t to blame for the loss.
“The refs are here to do a job,” Ellis said. “Every decision is subjective in their eyes. Arguing with a ref is not gonna make him change his decision. We’ve just gotta accept it and move on.”
Despite the ref’s attitude, the Narwhals controlled the tempo and the ball for most of the game. In just the second half, Bakaj and sophomore Kenan Massicott led seven attacks on goal against the Steels. They weren’t able to convert on any of them, though. Ellis and Joshi both acknowledged how well their team played.
“We have very skillful players, very, very skillful,” Joshi said. “[The Steels] didn’t have one shot on goal.”
“Possession is a very key focus of ours,” Ellis said. “Keeping the ball allows us to dictate the play. And yeah, I think that we had a lot of the play. Again, they were restricted to long balls over the top which, unfortunately, we actually didn’t deal with that well enough in the back which allowed them to have some joy with that. But I think we kept the ball really well.”
Ellis said his team played better than their opponents and that his message to them is to keep working. “I’ve got a good squad here. I’ve got some dedicated players that come out every morning and we’ve just gotta work harder.”
After the Narwhals took 10 shots on goal and got a combined three yellow cards, Joshi said his focus is on the next game.
“I think we just need to keep our heads up and keep our discipline and keep going,” Joshi said. “We have one more game to go.”
The Narwhals soccer team wraps up their season on Saturday, Oct. 24, against Lehman College at noon. The location will be announced soon.
Max is a Journalism major from Queens. He plays collegiate basketball for The New School Narwhals and spends the rest of his time watching and writing about the game.
