NHIAA reverses soccer overtime rules

After further consideration, the NHIAA’s soccer committee has decided to scrape the idea of playing 8-on-8 in overtime, executive director Jeff Collins said at last week’s media day.

“The soccer committee had conversations before the season and decided it was going to be beneficial to table that moving forward,” Collins said. “They’ll be gathering further information moving forward.

The committee had elected in the offseason to change the format of overtime for regular-season and postseason games, playing with seven players and a goalie to each side. The goal wasn’t to cut down on the number of ties during the regular season, but rather to find a better ending for championship games that are tied after two overtimes.

“They didn’t want state championships decided on penalty kicks,” Collins said. “It had nothing to do with ties in the regular season. It was mainly for state championship games.”

Last year, three of the four boys championship games were decided on penalty kicks.

Other options have been discusses as a way to settle tied championship games. In the past, the NHIAA handbook called for the teams, if tied after two overtimes, to return on another day and play another game, but a return to that format sounded like it wouldn’t be an option.

The boys soccer championship games are scheduled for Nov. 7, and the girls games for Nov. 8.