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I'm going to attempt to give some context before I jump into what happened during the Horizon League men's soccer match between No. 3 Valparaiso and No. 6 Milwaukee in the first round of the conference tournament. 

The Crusaders and Panthers have played three times since Valparaiso joined the Horizon League in the fall of 2007. The teams played to a 1-1 tie in 2007 and then last year, the Panthers came back from a 2-0 deficit and tied the match with 54 seconds remaining to force overtime, which ultimately resulted in a 2-2 tie. In that match, which was held at Eastgate Field, the officials gave out eight yellow cards (four each) and two red cards.

Earlier this season, the Crusaders earned their first victory over Milwaukee in four attempts with a 1-0 triumph in Wisconsin. Valparaiso escaped with a win by virtue of a Milwaukee defender knocking in an own goal with less than 15 minutes remaining in the match.

Looking at Tuesday's match, play was physical from the beginning of the contest and the Panthers earned two yellow cards in the first 52 minutes of play, the second of which led to a penalty kick that Zack Stivers took and scored on a rebound to give Valparaiso a 2-0 lead.

While the two yellow cards had been called, the most egregious foul was not called. At the end of the first half, Valparaiso junior Stefan Antonijevic was mugged from behind in clear view of an official, but no whistle was blown. In the 52nd minute, the Milwaukee yellow card came on a result of Antonijevic being fouled inside the box. At that point, several of us in the press box joked that the foul was only the "fifth-worst thing that had happened to Antonijevic during the match," meaning that he was constantly being driven to the ground by the Milwaukee players, even being forced out of the match early in the first half because of an injury sustained after a Milwaukee hit. 

Shortly after Stivers scored, the ball was kicked back into Milwaukee territory where Valparaiso senior Steve Shively and a Milwaukee defender got tangled up. Shively was shoved in the back and took a nasty spill (and this is important) off the field towards the Milwaukee goal.

Antonijevic was trailing on the play and he went sprinting towards Shively, in theory to see if the senior was hurt. On the way towards Shively, Antonijevic and another Milwaukee defender (different player than the one who shoved Shively) started shoving each other.

I haven't seen a video replay of the fight, so I can't be sure who threw the first punch, but Antonijevic and the Milwaukee player (assuming Josh Barnes, as he was the one who was ejected) started throwing punches. Unfortunately, this spilled off the field, in the direction of Shively, and right into the teeth of the Valparaiso student section, which was largely comprised of men's soccer reserve team players.

Many of the fans, more than likely thinking like fellow soccer players instead of bystanders, charged into the fray, which was growing by the moment as more Valparaiso (varsity) and Milwaukee players charged down the field.

Mayhem broke out as some players and fans were trying to break up the fight while others were escalating the situation. Again, without the benefit of video replay, I can't tell you who hit who first, but I definitely saw a Milwaukee player connect on a punch to a Valparaiso fan and a Valparaiso fan land a kick to a Milwaukee player who was on the ground.

At this point, three head coaches from other Valparaiso athletic teams sprinted around the field and helped to break up the fight. I have to give major credit to Valparaiso men's soccer assistant coach Jeff Oleck for moving all of the Valparaiso fans away from the field.

Cooler heads prevailed after several tense minutes and both teams held conferences on the field as Antonijevic and Barnes were ejected.

As the players moved back to their benches, Horizon League officials talked with Valparaiso administrators on the sidelines and order was ultimately restored.

From an on-the-field standpoint, the Crusaders are going to lose Antonijevic for Friday's semifinal match with Green Bay. That is a huge loss. The Marquette transfer has two goals and an assist this season and is one of just three players who has started all 18 matches. A Horizon League administrator told me that there is a possibility that the conference could look at the tapes from the incident to see if anyone else should be reprimanded.

From an off-the-field standpoint, I think this was a situation, that had it happened anywhere else on the field, wouldn't have been nearly as problematic. Yes, Shively was driven to the ground, and yes, Antonijevic ran over, perhaps looking to help his teammate, or perhaps looking to take out his frustration after being hounded throughout the match. That being said, the situation got out of control when the first punch was thrown between the players and the fans ran onto the field. Whether or not the fans were in fact members of the men's soccer reserve team should not give them the right to come onto the field.

Throughout the season, the reserve team, along with other fervent Valparaiso soccer fans, have been standing beyond the opposing teams goal. This is no different than professional soccer, in terms of the fans trying to get into the head of the opposing keeper. There hasn't been a problem until today.

Again, and I have to stress this, I haven't seen a replay of the altercation, so I can't be sure as to what punches were thrown first, but it's my belief that the fans ran onto the field with the best intentions: to help quell the brawl between Antonijevic and the Milwaukee player. Once I saw a Milwaukee player throw a punch at a Valparaiso fan, that's when the fight escalated and things really got out of control.

While there wasn't any uniformed security in the immediate proximity to the fight, I have to give major credit to members of the Valparaiso athletic department for acting in a quick fashion to help defuse the situation as soon as possible.

I'd write more, but the more I think about this, the more speechless I become. Wow.