Ohio Locker Room

High school soccer matches are just too long. The other night the Northmont and Troy tournament match went into double overtime before a winner was secured. Fortunately it didn't go into a shoot out because there was a match that followed that one. That second match lasted until after 10 p.m. on a school night and could have lasted longer if it also went into extra periods. Two 40 minutes periods is too long. Twenty minute periods is more than enough for high school soccer.

You have to look at other sports. Football games take just as long to complete. 80 minutes of high school soccer is perfect. Soccer is about control and stamina. 20 minute halves are a discgrace to the game. College teams play 90 minutes. Kids who hope to play college ball cannot be properly prepared playing just 40 minutes. The problem is with double-header tournaments held on school nights. Things like this need to be done on weekends if it is a tournament format. It is a scheduling issue, not a length issue. Cutting the game in half is a disgrace to the game and will only hurt the players hoping to go on to the next level. Athletic directors need to stop worrying about making money and trying to host tournaments and worry about making the schedules to suite the kids.

A soccer match going that long is the exception rather than the rule.  As teams advance further and further into the tournament, the level of play is raised and you must expect to go into OT, double OT and shoot outs.  That is what makes the game so exciting for the players (and the fans!).  True, it seems late to play on a school night, but I would bet that few of the players have any issue with the length of the game or being out that late on a school night.  The opportunity to advance in the tourney is rare and is something to be savored.

I have coached as well as been a spectator at many games during my children's soccer careers and I think it would be a truly HORRIBLE idea to change the length of the game at the high school level.  80 minutes is a good length.  As SCLARK stated, many HS football games go much longer than 80 minutes even though they are "scheduled" to finish in about an hour...wanna change the quarters in the football games to 5 minutes?  We HAVE to get these kids prepared if they want to pursue soccer in college.  In my opinion, 20 minute halves would not do that.  Heck...U-13 Select teams play 35 minute halves!

If you think about it, there are other sports that are longer....For instance, track meets occur in more that just your league so that means the team can drive for an hour or more to get to where you need to go and some of the meets can last for 6-8 hours alone, depending....And, besides, like it was said before, high school soccer is preparing the students for college soccer....Also, if you are really into soccer and you watch, knowing what's going on, the game will pass fairly quickly, especially if you're in the game, but if you aren't and you go to a match, you should expect to want to scream, holler, or want to get in the game yourself....So, when you go to a mtach be ready for it to be long but also be ready to get sucked in and not realize that it even took that long....