UNC-G "Star" Disgraced at SoCon Tourney

UNC-G’s Chris Goos was Friday night named SoCon Player-of-the-Year, credited with 20 goals and 20 assists coming into the tournament. But Saturday afternoon he disgraced that honor, as well as his teammates, his school, and his conference.

The official line on the termination of the SoCon semi-final between Furman and UNC-G was "unplayable conditions." The reality was that UNC-G's undisciplined, disgraceful behavior brought an early end to the match, and probably influenced the decision to stop the tournament at that point. (A decision, sadly, that cost Davidson and VMI their well-earned shot at an NCAA bid.)

Evidently unable to cope with the fact that they were losing (again) to Furman 3-0, with about 20 minutes left in the match, UNC-G’s #3 (I’ll leave out their names, but you could look them up) committed a nasty foul on Furman’s Kenny Penn in the center circle, and received a justified yellow. Minutes later, having been beaten on the dribble by Scott Hoch, #3 fouled him from behind, earning his ejection (a straight red, I believe since the ref didn’t show a second yellow but brought out the red immediately.)

The foul from UNC-G’s 3# drove Hoch into UNC-G’s #2, who went down in apparent pain and was helped off the field. He returned minutes later and, when the opportunity of a UNC-G corner presented itself, #2 decided to take it out on the Furman ‘keeper, slamming into Alex Maslow in a dangerous, flagrant manner which left the ‘keeper flat on his back and had the ref racing into the box with his hand in his pocket (digging for that card again?)

When Furman’s McNeil Cronin intervened, #2 slapped a headlock on him, so Cronin body-slammed him into the mud. By this time, players from all over the pitch were converging in the goal-mouth and a melee ensued in short order.

On the edge of the scuffle, the entire stadium witnessed Chris Goos grab Luke Barbour from behind by the jersey, and begin wildly kicking the Furman player in the ankles, legs and back. When Furman’s Clint Dempsey leaped to Barbour’s aid, everyone saw Goos literally run from the confrontation. What a disappointment, as Goos was just moments away from the whipping he evidently missed as a child.

Disappointing also that only minutes earlier, Goos had slid viciously (with both feet, studs up at knee height, you can look at the video) into an unprotected Drew Moor, upending the SoCon Freshman-of-the-Year, (and a player of true class) earning a yellow that surely should have been red, the earlier ejection of #3 being the only apparent reason the ref refrained from giving Goos an early exit.

On the season, I saw Goos in three matches and all he produced was a couple of assists. Of course, all three of those matches were against teams in South Carolina. Since he was credited with 20 goals and 20 assists coming into the tournament, I can only surmise that he showed much better against lesser opponents.

The whole affair was a real let-down for all the spectators who endured an afternoon of rain and cold hoping to see the so-called SoCon Player-of-the-Year demonstrate his skill, rather than his lack of class.