This week's state soccer championships have had a fair share of medical incidents.

On Thursday, La Cueva forward Alysia Carrasco collided with another player and ran into the retaining fence before landing hard on the concrete curb that surrounds field No. 3. She was eventually taken to the hospitals where X-rays proved negative. She was released late Thursday with a bruised tail bone.

That same night, Cleveland midfielder Chelsea Page suffered a head injury when she fell backward onto the turf in a game against Carlsbad. She returned to action Friday against La Cueva.

On Friday, an unidentified Rehoboth boys player suffered a broken leg and was taken away by paramedics.

Asked if there's a higher occurrence of injuries this week as opposed to, say, last year's state tournament at the soccer complex outside Bernalillo, New Mexico Activities Association spokesman Robert Zayas said the evidence isn't there.

"In eight years of working the soccer championships we've never had to have an ambulance for a player injury until (Thursday)," he said. "To my knowledge there is absolutely no evidence out there to suggest that the frequency of injuries is higher now than at any other time."

In other words, don't blame the fields. Much has been made of the smaller size of the new APS complex. Its field dimensions are barely above the national standard for high school soccer. And it's retaining fences are just 10 feet from the edge of the playing surface - a distance that falls within the minimum required space by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Asked if the smaller fields were at least partially to blame for her injury - one so severe that she had to use a wheelchair to attend school on Friday - she said they were.

"I've never had an experience like that," she said. "I've never played on a field where a fence or something else came into play like that. At the other complex you could run after a ball and keep on going without worrying about hitting anything. That's something you have to think about out here."

"The second she hit she started screaming bloody murder," said Bears coach Amber Ashcraft. "The trainer hopped over the fence before the ref even signaled someone on. It was pretty bad."

Fans have questioned why the NMAA hasn't stationed an ambulance on site for this week's tournament. Carrasco reportedly waited for at least 20 minutes to be taken off the field.

The fact is, Zayas said, neither the NMAA nor APS is required to do so. The NMAA has two professional trainers on site at all times. When the Rehoboth player went down, the trainer had stabilized the injury with an air cast well before paramedics arrived.

NMAA executive director Gary Tripp said he has heard nothing but positive feedback about the complex. In the weeks leading into the state tournament, the NMAA and APS teamed to add two additional parking lots and 42 sets of temporary bleachers.