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Life lessons can come when one least expects them.
No one has to tell that to Lauren McDonnell.
An old adage in sports has long been play every game like it's your last.
A red card for a handball in the box, initially ruled a yellow, ended McDonnell's senior season for the Big Reds of first-year Parkersburg High School head coach Phil Wilson.
The incident, no matter the believed or perceived intention, happened last week against Morgantown at Stadium Field.
Following her red card, the Big Red defender was given the same sentence everyone else gets -- a 10% suspension.
What's a 10% suspension?
In essence it's a blanket rule used by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.
A player who is ejected from an athletic event will serve a suspension based on the number of games said sport is allowed to schedule in the regular season.
For example, football would be one game.
Unfortunately for McDonald, who could've spit on the referee or punched an opposing player and received the same two-game suspension, she's not playing on the world stage.
If she had been competing in FIFA (the Federation Internationale de Football Association) her actions would've been called a "professional foul" and resulted in a single game hiatus.
Major League Soccer even went so far this year to make the player who gets ejected and then suspended have to sit out not the ensuing match, but the next time they face the same opponent.
This brings it back to mother Andrea McDonnell's point of the "blanket rule" being incomprehensible.
It's an issue, for this specific instance, where the WVSSAC "reviewed" it and still served McDonnell the two games via the 10% suspension rule.
I'm far from the only person who agrees this subject is just not intelligible.
"I know FIFA is a one-game suspension," said coach Wilson. "My biggest problem with it you are penalizing a kid that, intentionally or unintentionally, knocked the ball out and she gets the same suspension as if she went and punched some kid in the face. That's the problem I have with it."
Another unfortunate aspect of this situation is if McDonnell had been playing in the Buckeye State she'd have not missed senior night. Instead, she also was absent for Tuesday's sectional match at Parkersburg South due to the WVSSAC.
Interestingly, on page 31 of the Ohio High School Athletic Association 2022 OHSAA Soccer Officials' Guide it notes a rule change.
The ejection policy, according to the PDF, states "now permits the individual player to be on the bench and in the locker room area during the period of suspension.
"The suspended player, as a result of an ejection, is not permitted to be in any school warmups or uniform during the time of suspension and is strictly prohibited from being on the field during pregame or halftime warmup time."
Well, that seems like a fairly sensible approach to take.
Of course, her handball in Ohio would've cost her playing senior night, but the Big Reds had to wait until the match was over and the referees left to bring McDonnell in and honor the 12th graders.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com