Anyone holding out hope for a last-second reprieve for the La Quinta High School girls’ soccer team, can stop holding their breath. The CIF Division V semifinal game has started and La Quinta isn’t in it.
San Marino and St. Margaret’s began their semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. at St. Margaret’s High School in San Juan Capistrano. It was the game La Quinta was going to be hosting before being eliminated from the playoffs due to a CIF rules violation.
The decision drew the ire of the valley sports community as the La Quinta players and extended soccer family begged and pleaded through e-mail and twitter for the CIF to reconsider. Their pleas didn’t work, but they didn’t go entirely unheard.
Assemblyman Brian Nestande of the 42nd Assembly District issued this statement:
“I have called on CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod to rescind his recent decision to disqualify the La Quinta High School Girls Soccer team from the CIF playoffs.
The team was disqualified based on an ambiguous rule that states an ejected player may not participate or attend the next match.
I believe the team made every effort to comply with CIF’s rules by having their ejected player watch from outside of the stadium. I am struggling to understand the basis for CIF’s decision.
It egregious to disqualify the team based on something that had no effect on the outcome of the match, and this decision has unfairly negated all of the team’s hard work that has gone into their success this season.
While it is too late to undo the damage of this decision, I am committed to finding a solution to preventing similar situations from occurring in the future. This could involve intervening with California Department of Education which oversees CIF to ensure their rules are interpreted fairly.”