Just watched the three big decisions by the referee. I know this referee really well so I'll be chatting with him soon.
Foul on our in the 1st half was a good decision. I'd like to see the ref closer to play and he was walking back at midfield when the ball was played in. But there's no red card in that challenge. It's a yellow and probably a verbal warning to that player, but the Arkansas player knew it was a bad challenge. This doesn't rise to SFP in any game, even a HS game like someone posted.
Penalty decision in the 2nd half. The Ref was in good position on this was cuz he actually hustled to get there and the Aggie defender has no chance to get to that ball on the slide tackle. From his angle, she can only go through the Arkansas player in that position. It's a dumb challenge anyway cuz the attacker is facing away from goal with no chance to turn, let alone shoot, and they're about as far as you can get from the goal and still be in the penalty area. I'm surprised he went to video review.
BUUUUUUUUUUT, the broadcast shows a good angle of the Aggie defender getting a good touch on the ball. She contorts her body to get there so good on her for the effort. It's still not a smart tackle but she finished it well. Good for her. Good for the ref to look at the replay. I'm almost certain someone on the crew talked him into looking at it again.
I did not see a foul on the corner kick where Arkansas scored. I'm not sure what he saw. I assume he's looking for contact on the GK but there was no interference that would make most refs blow the whistle. Maybe she got her foot stepped on and it didn't allow her to jump properly, but there's no way the Ref is seeing that from his spot..I've been on games with this ref and he's made this exact same foul call, so maybe it's his bogey foul. Not sure. That's a tough one for Arkansas and A&M got lucky. FYI, this play is not reviewable in college.