Brawls break out at girls' soccer game

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A fight broke out on the soccer field between players at a high school game in Providence Sunday night, and moments later, fans in the stands were coming to blows too.

Four girls high school soccer state championship games were at Rhode Island College Sunday. In the fourth game, Tolman vs. Woonsocket, the Woonsocket Villa Novans had a 5-0 lead.

With a minute left in the game, tempers started to flare. In video captured by Eyewitness News, Woonsocket's Kristen Cahill bumped into the Tolman Tigers' Maria Lopera, followed by pushing and shoving, and then punches were thrown. Other players joined the fray, along with referees trying to stop the tussle.

There was even some hair-pulling, which harkens back to Thursday night's incident in New Mexico , where University of New Mexico junior defender Elizabeth Lambert yanked the ponytail of BYU player Kassidy Shumway. Lambert is now suspended indefinitely for her actions, and issued an apology this weekend.

The Providence game was halted with a minute left on the clock to finish untangling the brawl.

"Frustrations are frustrations," said Woonsocket soccer coach Kathleen Fagnant. "[Tolman was ] down five-nothing. We're both physical teams, and you can only take so much; at a certain point, someone snapped."

Fagnant admitted things just got out of control.

"I know I pride myself and my girls on sportsmanship. And not to put a blame on anybody, it could be us too, we could have been going back and forth," she said. "We had the advantage, and we had good spirits, so I'm not going to take the fall for that."

Later, when the awards ceremony was going on, a fight broke out in the stands between Tolman and Woonsocket fans.

There's no word of any arrests, or serious injuries, though one of the soccer players in the field fight suffered a black eye.

Director of Rhode Island's Interscholastic League Tom Mezzanote didn't issue a comment Sunday night.