Aggressive New Mexico Soccer Player Suspended

Sports News - November 7th, 2009 - Written by John

After being caught on tape ripping an opponent to the ground by her hair and whipping several others with her arms and legs, New Mexico soccer defender Elizabeth Lambert was slapped with an indefinite suspension on Friday.

With the season already over, she will be banned by the team from practices and conditioning for an unspecified amount of time.

"I let my emotions get the best of me in a heated situation. I take full responsibility for my actions and accept any punishment felt necessary," Lambert said on ESPN. "This is in no way indicative of my character or the soccer player that I am. I am sorry to my coaches and teammates for any and all damages I have brought upon them.

"I am especially sorry to BYU and the BYU women's soccer players that were personally affected by my actions. I have the utmost respect for the BYU women's soccer program and its players."

Lambert's antics, highlighted several times on SportsCenter, including kicking, punching and slapping members of the BYU team during the opening round of the conference tournament match. She was only awarded a yellow card during one of her more innocent incidents in which she tripped a player while trying to steal the ball.

Members of the BYU team never fought back, instead turning away and, at times, throwing their arms in the air to avoid confrontation.

The top-ranked Cougars, who are no. 17 in the national polls, won the game 1-0 to end the Lobos season.

The Mountain West Conference issued a statement regarding the incident, and praised New Mexico for their swift decision to suspend Lambert, who described herself as an otherwise clean soccer player with no track record of violence on the pitch.

"Liz's conduct on the field against BYU was completely inappropriate," said New Mexico's athletic vice president Paul Krebs. "There is no way to defend her actions."

There is no record of violence for Lambert online and her student bio on New Mexico's athletic page indicates that she is a junior, who is majoring in occupational therapy and was on the 2008 MWC All-Academic team. In high school she made the Principal's Honor Roll every year.

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