NIAA enacts mercy rule for soccer beginning this season

Soccer blowouts will end a little earlier next season.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Board of Control voted Monday to enact a mercy rule for boys and girls soccer, effective for the 2017-18 season. The game will end with an eight-goal differential after 60 minutes of play.

The board decided on 60 minutes, taking into consideration that youth soccer matches are often 30-minute halves, and view it as a full match. High school soccer matches are 80 minutes long.

Many agenda items centered around realignment possibilities for when the schools reclassify in 2018-19. Representatives from Pinecrest Academy were in attendance at the meeting, and are seeking admittance into the NIAA, but Pinecrest will not be a member at any level when sports begin again in the fall.