Fort Myers soccer team loses national tournament because of coin toss

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Teams are calling it the “coin toss cup.” The fate of a local soccer team was determined by a coin toss in a national championship tournament.

Players, coaches and parents say it’s unfair after they spent $17,000 on a tournament they never got to play.

A coin toss, captured on camera by their coach, was a moment the U-14 Fort Myers Lady Knights say they’ll never forget.

“They left it up to a coin to decide who goes through. It’s luck, not skill, that’s not what soccer is about,” said player Delaney Price.

It was a coin toss to determine who made it to the next round of the President’s Cup Tournament, held this past weekend in Lafayette, Louisiana. The Lady Knights won their first game, 5-0.

“Genuinely felt this was it, this was our time,” said head coach Danny Fahey.

But severe storms kept putting the games off. At 9:30 a.m. Saturday, officials decided a coin toss would decide who goes through to the next rounds.

“They weren’t there to see all of us crying in the halls,” said Maggie Struble, another player.

Parent Kelley Price said, “it is the most horrific thing I’ve ever heard of in youth sports.”

WINK News took the team’s concerns to the CEO of US Youth Soccer, Christopher Moore.

“I want to apologize and be empathetic,” said Moore.

Moore says coin tosses are in the rule book, as a last resort when it comes to weather.

“We explored shortened games, or kicks from the mark.”

But we told Moore, that the team didn’t think officials tried everything they could, and that 9:30 a.m. was too early to call a tournament.

“I will certainly look into the timeline, and when the decision was made and how it was made. We may have to reconsider the rules going forward.”

But it’s still too late for the Lady Knights.

“It just came down to whomever was the luckiest one there,” said Delaney Price.