PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

Last night, my lads and I had a great opportunity to see San Jose Earthquakes play Vancouver Whitecaps (yes, MLS but still…).

And if you’re ever in Northern California, you really need to check out Quakes’ new all-“soccer” facility: Avaya Stadium. It’s small by Premier League standards, of course, but absolutely gorgeous.

But for a referee fangirl, this was absolute heaven. Not only was dreamy Edvin Jurisevic in the center, but Felisha Mariscal was AR2!

Mariscal has been running the lines in MLS for a couple of seasons now, and I was quite impressed with her last night. She’s very fit (though maybe a step or two off the highest pace – but so are most male ARs). She was spot on on most of her calls, and she has good presence – despite the fact that she’s very tiny.

(Jurisevic and his fellow refs aren’t the tallest posts in the fence, and Mariscal completely disappeared when the cameraman panned over the team taking their pre-game photo, she was so diminutive.)

I was most impressed, however, by how non-plussed by her all the fans were. Maybe it’s because this isn’t her first year, but while she got her fair share of boos as all referees do, I didn’t catch a single snarky comment all game (and I was listening).

Personally, I was just tickled pink to be able to see her in person. Well done, Felisha. Well done.

(Oh. Jurisevic was fine, too. Plus, he has awesome Nicola Rizzoli-style hair.)