Butler County high school soccer coaches react to PIAA cutting regular season overtime: ‘It’s logical’
High school soccer players will no longer be working overtime during the regular season.
On Wednesday, the PIAA Board of Directors listened to the recommendation of its soccer steering committee and voted by majority to do away with overtime periods in regular-season games starting next season.
Regular-season contests that are tied after 80 minutes of regulation will result in a draw.
Karns City boys soccer coach RJ Carson was initially disappointed to hear the news. His Gremlins have been part of a handful of overtime contests over the past few seasons, and he enjoys the stakes that come with them.
“It’s just next goal wins. Everything gets more intense,” Carson said. “The players want to be the hero. My favorite saying is, ‘Who wants to be hero?’ Because that’s what everybody’s looking for.
“Sometimes it just makes the stories that you’ll remember for a lifetime, for your team and for yourself.”
Butler girls soccer coach Dan Buzzard understands where Carson is coming from.
“If I’m going up against a rival and I think that we had the momentum in the last 10 and I think we could get them in the next 10, I’m sure my answer in October might be a little bit different,” Buzzard said. “But, kind of at a top-down view right now, I’m taking the emotion out of it.”
Draws, Buzzard added, are a part of soccer at every level. Unlike basketball or baseball, sports that always decide a winner, it’s “more part of the culture, it’s more a part of the game. Anyone that watches soccer knows that,” Buzzard said.
Part of what factored into the PIAA’s decision was to protect its student-athletes from wear and tear.
“It’s logical,” Buzzard said. “At the end of the day, soccer’s not a sport that is really meant to be played three times a week, and the season’s so long and it’s such a grind. ... We all deal with injuries and we try to do so much for injury prevention.”
Buzzard pointed out that necessary practices also add to the collective fatigue. An overtime game on the road might keep players from getting home until well after 11 p.m.
“You’re in a game where it really doesn’t mean much and both coaches are like, ‘We’re about to head into playoffs. We’re just fighting for our lives with injuries,’” Buzzard said. “And all of a sudden, here you go, we’ve gotta play another 20 minutes. It definitely will benefit the girls and both sides just to cut down on that fatigue and hopefully cut down on injuries, too.”
While Carson understands the concern for injury, he feels draws could impact standings and postseason standing, as well.
“Maybe a good compromise would be conference games being overtime (eligible) and non-conference games ending in regulation,” Carson said. “Because a lot of these teams have .500 policies, like Karns City, and we have to win in order to make the playoffs.”
