Erin Cappellucci Named State's Young Referee of the Year for Soccer

September 26, 2012

by David Walcott
Plymouth Daily News

While playing softball, field hockey & track at Plymouth North, Class of 2012 graduate Erin Cappellucci (second from left) could also be found running up and down soccer fields all around the area most weekends with a whistle in her hand.

A soccer referee for the last five years, the 18-year-old Stonehill College freshman is obviously pretty good at what she does - last month Cappellucci was named the Massachusetts State Referee Committee's Young Referee of the Year for the work she's done on and off the soccer field.

"I love the game of soccer, and being an official is fun for me," she said. "There is so much theater and passion involved with the game, and my job is to keep everything in line."

Cappellucci said she goes wherever she is needed to officiate games, concentrating mostly on intramural events during the school week and club soccer clashes on the weekend. She'll work games with kids 10 years old to contests with male and female players her own age.

"The little kids are so cute. They're still learning the game, so sometimes you are as much of a coach as you are a referee," Cappellucci said. "But I also enjoy being involved with the games of the older players. They have so much passion for the game, so one of the first things you have to do is assert yourself as the authority figure on the field. You have to let them play their game, but they need to know that you are the one in charge of the game. The boys do complain more than the girls do most of the time, but I just tell them to play their game and let me officiate."

A National Honor Society member while at Plymouth North, the Political Science major has enjoyed her short time as a student at Stonehill.

"The college experience opens your eyes to the rest of the world," Cappellucci said. "It really does expand your horizons."

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