You had to wonder what was going through Simsbury coach Ed Lynch's mind on Monday because he didn't say anything the entire game.
Lynch stood behind the bench as his team lost to Norwich Free Academy 1-0 in overtime in a Class LL state quarterfinal at Fontaine Field.
It was hard to pick his brain afterwards too as he sent assistant coach Tyler Webb to talk with myself and another reporter.
One thing was clear, the Trojans didn't like the pitch.
"Honestly, with a field like this, it's a travesty that we play a quarterfinal game, the best eight teams in the state, to play on a field that is three yards too narrow and it's dirt. You would hope that we would have a more even playing surface. In this kind of situation, it's hard to have skill be the determining factor, it's more of how the ball bounces," Webb said.
Sorry but Norwich may not have the budget that a Simsbury does to care for and maintain its fields either.
Quarterfinal games used to be played on neutral fields but, because no one wants to host them and deal with the issues that go along with them, crowd control, staffing, etc..., you play on what the higher-seed has. The only thing the CIAC cares about is that it is properly fenced so that it can charge admission to the game.
And because it is played on a home field, the home team's soccer officiating board is also used, giving fans of, generally, the visiting team another cause to complain.
We've already heard from some of them.