Throughout games this season, Ball State coach Craig Roberts hasn't been shy in voicing his displeasure with certain calls made by the referee.
Roberts said he's never been thrown out of a game at the Division I level, but his occasional antagonizing nature on the field may have cost him in Friday's game at Kent State.
After receiving a yellow card in the first half, Roberts was thrown out in the 68th minute of the game because of a comment, he said, a linesman near the bench misinterpreted.
"I didn't say anything to the side official at all," Roberts said. "Some of the players were continually getting aggravated with some of the decision-making throughout the game. I just told my assistant not to worry about it. We would contact the assigner of the officials and take it up with him. He must have overheard that and called the center official over to take action."
The head referee issued Roberts a second yellow card and ejected him from the game.
By that time, Kent State had accumulated a 2-0 lead in the game and rode its advantage to victory.
Roberts said he intends to file a report about the situation to clear things up.
"Fortunately, Bill Scholl and other administrators were there from Ball State who were watching the game," Roberts said. "We also have support from Kent State to witness what happened-that there was no statement said directly to the official. Yet, that was the claims the ejection was based on. It was non-derogatory either. We'll just take it up with the appropriate sources later."
Roberts was upset with more than his ejection. He said certain calls concerning both goals scored by Kent State were controversial.
In the 19th minute, the Golden Flashes' junior forward Jaclyn Dutton was fouled in the box by the Cardinals' senior goalkeeper Aubrey Buehler. Roberts said Buehler slid to try and get the ball, but Dutton was awarded a penalty kick after falling down after the play was over.
"The goalkeeper allegedly took a player down in the penalty box," Roberts said. "Usually the response to that is an immediate ejection, but that wasn't given. That wasn't consistent so we weren't sure what that call was."
Officially, a yellow card was given to Ball State's senior midfielder Sarah Orisich because she argued the call. Either way, Dutton scored to give Kent State a 1-0 advantage.
The MAC's leading scorer entering the game, Dutton adder her second goal less than ten minutes later. It came off a Cardinals' turnover deep in their own territory, but one Roberts said was also controversial.
"She's a good player, but I felt we did a good job with her defensively," Roberts said. "We had to deal with calls that went against us. She was given two opportunities to score goals; one off a PK and the other we're not sure went in or not, but they awarded it."
After going scoreless in her first two Mid-American Conference games, Dutton's two goals gave her 10 for the season. Prior to the game, she also led the conference in points.
While the Cardinals had no answers for Dutton on the defensive side of the ball, their offense struggled as well.
Ball State finished with an 8-7 shot disadvantage. It was the first time the team was outshot since the team's season-opener against Marshall, also a loss.
"We always knew the field would be an issue with us," Roberts said. "I didn't feel as if we created enough in the final third. We wanted to be more direct and position-oriented and the field didn't allow for that. We tried to stick onto our own style of play. You have to adapt to the field."
Ball State wasn't able to adapt to the calls or the conditions and fell to 5-4-2 (2-1 in the MAC). The team's next game is at Ohio on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Despite the hole some of the calls may have put the Cardinals in, Roberts said his team still needs to do a better job of creating and finishing around the goal.
"At the end of the day, the referee makes decisions and you have to win based on goals," Roberts said. "There were some controversial calls, but we have to overcome that."
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