The Contra Costa College Comets men’s soccer team felt robbed of a victory by the officiating crew after they ended up with a four-all tie Oct. 22 in San Pablo. 

The Comets’ four goals matched their season high, a mark they hadn’t reached in over a month, yet they still could not come away with a win because of what some players saw as a questionable call by a referee near the end of the match. 

“I definitely disagree with the refereeing –the whole team does,” said Comets goalie Orlando Perez after the game, the lone sophomore on a team full of freshmen. 

As time was running out in the match, the Napa Valley College team took a corner kick, and when the ball was in the air, a Comets player had his hands on the back of an opposing player but did not appear to push him. However, the officials awarded Napa with a penalty kick that they executed, which tied the match and ultimately wasted a valiant effort by the Comets.

Even Contra Costa College Athletic Director John Wade felt the Comets were cheated. “The refs didn’t even give our coach an explanation after the play happened,” Wade said. 

Coming into the match, the Napa Valley College team had only one loss on the season and zero ties, so handing them their first tie of the season was still widely considered a respectable result for the Comets. 

Contra Costa also tied Yuba College earlier in the season, which was that team’s only tie of the year as well. Both Yuba and Napa currently only have one loss and one tie each, nestled right above the Comets in the conference standings. 

As far as total goals in the match, the eight scored by both teams combined equals the highest goal tally of any men’s Comets soccer match up to this point in the season. 

There was also no love lost between the two teams. “We know how their team is, and we know each other by name,” said Perez. Which is why the absurd number of yellow cards, a whopping six for the Comets alone, might have been issued by the referee. 

Throughout the match, trash talking and physical play between the two teams was essentially nonstop, and it became more intense after each goal. The head coaches of both teams were more than likely very hoarse the following morning, as both were yelling at their players and the referees throughout. 

The Comets got a little deja vu, having also tied Marin in their last home match, which featured a lot of verbal and physical jabs as well. At one point in the Oct. 8 match, a Marin player kicked a ball at a Comets player out of frustration during a timeout. 

In the Oct. 22 match, the tensions reached a boiling point when opposing players had to be separated by teammates and referees after a hard foul caused them to go nose-to-nose. Between the two Comets two home matches against Marin College and Napa College, they went on the road to beat Merritt College 2-1 and lose 3-0 to the stout Yuba College team. 

Looking ahead, the CCC men’s soccer team has one more regular season home match on Nov. 9 against Merritt College.