A U.S. college soccer player who was once rookie of the year has been suspended indefinitely for punching, kicking, and pulling the hair of an opposing player during a game.
Elizabeth Lambert, 20, a defender who played for the women's team at the University of New Mexico, was suspended on Friday.
In a viral video that has already received more than 2 million hits in just three days on Youtube, Lambert is shown pulling another player to the ground by her ponytail in Thursday's game against Brigham Young University in Utah.
Lambert has been banned from practices, games, and training sessions.
Lambert has apologized, saying "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," she said.
Darnell Dickson, the sports editor of the Provo Daily Herald in Utah told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel that there is no rivalry or history of bad blood between the two teams, and Lambert has no history of aggressive playing.
He said the referee will now have to answer for his officiating. Lambert was given just a yellow card in the 76th minute, apparently for tripping, but her other actions went ignored.
"I think the official does need to be held accountable," he said.
"You have to wonder if the officials are saying it 'it must be a physical game' and letting things go," he said.
Hundreds of soccer fans are saying Lambert should be charged criminally, with assault.
They've even joined a Facebook group called "Ban Elizabeth Lambert of New Mexico from college soccer."
News reports say although aggression in women's sports isn't often in the limelight, it does happen.
Eleven players were suspended after a brawl between the Los Angeles Sparks and Detroit Shock during a WNBA game last year and in 2003, five Illinois girls were sent to the hospital after an initiation into a football team
In September, tennis star Serena Williams had an outburst against an official during a match, and waved her tennis racket in the air.
