2014 NCAA Soccer Rules; Modified Postseason Tiebreaker Procedure
by John Puglisi, NISOA Past - President, NISOA National clinician and NISOA local assessor.
The 2014-2015 NCAA Soccer Rules include modifications to several aspects of the postseason tiebreaker procedure. Playoff officials should take a few minutes to review the tiebreaking procedure in Rule 7.1.1. NCAA-specific requirements (modifications are in bold) include:
- Only players who are listed on the game roster are eligible to participate in the tiebreaker. Please note anyone on the roster may be designated to participate in the tiebreaker. There is no requirement for the player to be on the field when the second overtime period ends.
- Each team shall designate 10 players (eligible kickers) to participate in the tiebreaker. I strongly recommend officials require the team to designate these 10 players before the tiebreaker procedure begins.
- Each team shall take an initial series of five kicks, if necessary, alternately. If the score still is tied after each team has taken five kicks, kicks shall continue alternately in the same order until a team has one more goal in the same number of kicks.
- Each kick shall be taken by a different player until all the eligible kickers have kicked once. If the kicks continue beyond that number, the order of the initially designated kickers may be changed. The tiebreaker kicks shall conform to Rule 14.2.
- If a designated player is ejected during the tiebreaker, the opposing team has the option to reduce their list of designated players to match the number of remaining designated on the offending team or change their kicking order.
- The visiting team calls the coin toss. The winner of the coin toss has the option to kick first or last. The referee will determine which goal is used for the tiebreaker.
- Once the goalkeeper is designated, he or she shall not be replaced unless injured or ejected. Injuries in this case shall be determined by the attending physician and/or a certified trainer. The goalkeeper may return to the tiebreaker if physically able.
Please note that Rule 14.2 has been modified in the 2014-2015 NCAA Soccer Rules. Rule 14.2 indicates “the referee shall identify the penalty kicker by handing the kicker the ball.” Approved Ruling 14.2.c is also new in the recent rules. AR 14.2.c indicates “Once the referee has handed the ball to the kicker and he/she has legally placed the ball on the penalty spot, may the team designate a different kicker? RULING: No, once the kicker has placed the ball on the spot, that kicker must take the penalty kick; however, if the kick is retaken for any infraction, a different kicker may be designated pursuant to Rule 14.2.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2014 at 9:38 am and is filed under Instruction with keyword(s) rules. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
