Celebration irks Cougars

The loss was frustrating, but what happened afterwards angered Columbia College more.

After Hannibal-LaGrange College beat the Cougars 1-0 on Wednesday, it gathered on the field at R. Marvin Owens Soccer Stadium and loudly chanted and sang together to celebrate its victory.

“I didn’t like that, I had to leave the field,” Cougars’ coach John Klein said. “I think it’s a bit disrespectful to go that overboard. They didn’t win the national championship. They didn’t win the conference championship. They won a soccer game.”

The Trojans’ celebration did not sit well with Cougar players either.

“That makes me madder than anything,” junior forward Justin Robinson said. “To have a team come in and celebrate on your field like that is never good.”

The lone goal of the game came off a Trojans throw-in in 75th minute of the second half. Hannibal-LaGrange sophomore forward Sebastian Rincon was not guarded off the throw-in and had an easy path to the goal.

“We could have had three guys on that guy, he was the only guy the ball could have gone to that was dangerous and there’s no reason he wasn’t marked up,” Klein said.

In the second half, Columbia College’s Sam Gelvin, a junior midfielder, was injured and taken to the hospital. No information was available on his condition.

“I think that took a lot of air out of our sails (in the second half),” Klein said.

Klein expects the memory of the Trojans’ celebration to motivate the Cougars.

“If the guys enjoy listening to that, then they probably belong in Hannibal; if they can’t get fired up about listening to those guys sing on our field then I have to question their emotion,” Klein said. “We have to remember that come playoff time and make sure it inspires us.”