{"id":5382,"date":"2025-05-29T15:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/fisher-suspended-for-three-games-over-controversial-hair-pulling-incident\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:56:12","slug":"fisher-suspended-for-three-games-over-controversial-hair-pulling-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/fisher-suspended-for-three-games-over-controversial-hair-pulling-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Fisher Suspended for Three Games Over Controversial Hair-Pulling Incident"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/i\/columnists\/full\/kassouf_jeff.png&amp;h=80&amp;w=80&amp;scale=crop\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"><\/div>\n<p>Jeff Caschell<span class=\"timestamp \">May 29th, 2025, 11:10am<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">\nclose<\/p>\n<ul>Jeff Kassouf covers ESPN women\u2019s soccer, focusing on USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded Equalizer, a women\u2019s soccer news outlet, and previously won Sports Emmy Awards at NBC Sports and the Olympics.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kayla Fisher, a forward for Racing Evil FC, will face a three-game suspension due to the hair-pulling incident that led to a red card during Saturday&#8217;s match, ESPN sources confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>The NWSL Disciplinary Committee has reviewed all significant infractions in the league and announced additional sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Both Fisher and Rayleigh Evil have the option to appeal the ruling, although sources indicate that such appeals are uncommon.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for the NWSL declined to comment when approached by ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>Fisher was expelled from the match in the 67th minute after video evidence showed her pulling Angel City midfielder Madison Hammond&#8217;s hair during a corner kick, which resulted in a penalty being awarded to Angel City.<\/p>\n<p>Forward Alyssa Thompson successfully converted the penalty, narrowing Louisville&#8217;s lead to 3-2 in what was a crucial mid-table clash.<\/p>\n<p>The red card automatically imposes a suspension for the next match, meaning Fisher will miss a total of three games, as there are three remaining before the NWSL&#8217;s summer break.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure>\n<picture><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F0529%2Fr1499902_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=570&amp;format=jpg, https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F0529%2Fr1499902_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=1140&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F0529%2Fr1499902_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=375, https:\/\/a4.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F0529%2Fr1499902_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Kayla Fisher was sent off during a match in which Louisville faced off against Angel City FC.<cite>Katelyn Mulcahy\/NWSL via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Fisher will not be eligible to participate in any regular-season games until August 1st.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released to ESPN on Thursday, she expressed remorse for her behavior.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to apologize to Madison Hammond and Angel City for my actions last weekend,&#8221; Fisher stated. &#8220;It was never my intention to be overly aggressive while defending the corner. I truly regret my actions and disappointed my teammates. I accept and understand the league\u2019s decisions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I return to the field later this season, I will demonstrate what I\u2019ve learned from this incident and show that it doesn\u2019t define who I am as a player, out of respect for my opponents and the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fisher has started all ten games for Louisville this season, contributing two goals and two assists, including support for the winning goal in the match against Savanna de Melo.<\/p>\n<p>The precedent for three-game suspensions in similar situations exists. Tyler Russi and Merritt Matthias both received three-game suspensions in 2017 for different incidents involving hair pulling, and neither was sent off in the heat of play. These events occurred six years prior to the NWSL&#8217;s video review measures instituted in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, last year, Chicago Stars forward Ludmira received a two-game suspension for a similar situation involving hair during a game.<\/p>\n<p>This is the second significant suspension for a Louisville player this month, as Racing Louisville midfielder Ally Borge was handed a total of four games for a red card received after a confrontation with the referee following a dramatic 3-3 draw with the Portland Thorns on April 27, due to Borge pushing the referee during an argument.<\/p>\n<p>Borge is eligible to return for Louisville&#8217;s upcoming match against Utah Royals FC on June 6th.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Fan Take:<\/strong> This incident highlights the growing importance of player conduct in women&#8217;s soccer, as the league strives to maintain integrity and sportsmanship. Such suspensions not only impact individual players but also influence the broader perception of the league and its commitment to fair play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff CaschellMay 29th, 2025, 11:10am close Jeff Kassouf covers ESPN women\u2019s soccer, focusing on USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded Equalizer, a women\u2019s soccer news outlet, and previously won Sports Emmy Awards at NBC Sports and the Olympics. Kayla Fisher, a forward for Racing Evil FC, will face a three-game suspension due to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[920,1145,40,1147,1148,1149,46,45,1146],"class_list":{"0":"post-5382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-controversial","9":"tag-fisher","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-games","12":"tag-hairpulling","13":"tag-incident","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-suspended"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}