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Earlier this month, Randy Adler arrived at a game for his 10-year-old son's all-boy soccer team, which he coaches as a volunteer, and discovered four players were out sick. Adler said he asked the other coach and referee if they were OK with him playing a 10-year-old girl, and according to Adler, both agreed. The Oct. 10 game ended in a scoreless tie.

A few days later, Adler received a call from the Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks Department saying he was suspended from coaching for two games. Adler, who lives in Russett and coaches in Maryland City, had broken a league rule that prohibits coaches from playing children who are not part of the team. He acknowledged the violation but said he was "shocked" to be suspended because of the agreement he said he made with the other coach.

"I understood she wasn't part of my team; that's why I went over and asked," said Adler, who has volunteered as a soccer coach for five years. "It wasn't like I was trying to hide her."

Ron Mox, an athletic supervisor for the county, said he found out about the infraction from the opposing coach. Mox said two other similar violations so far this season by other coaches have led to coach suspensions and that he was informed by the opposing team's coach in each case.

"That's my source out there. I have 327 teams, so the sources are my coaches," Mox said.

Patrick McCoy, the opposing coach from the Oct. 10 game, denied corresponding with the league about Adler's extra player and said he had no part in his suspension.

"I don't really think it has anything to do with me," McCoy said, adding, "I think there's rules that we're supposed to follow as far as the game goes."

McCoy, who also coaches on a volunteer basis, said he was aware Adler was playing a girl, but did not say whether the two coaches had made the agreement that Adler recounted.

Adler said he believes the incident sent the wrong message to the children: that honest coaches are suspended, and coaches who are upset with the outcome of the game are rewarded.

For Mox, however, the decision to suspend Adler was strictly based on the league rule, which he said has been in place for at least 40 years. Mox also stressed that the sex of the extra player had nothing to do with the suspension.

No consideration was given to any agreement the two coaches might have worked out prior to the game, he said.

"A rule's a rule," Mox said. "He broke it by allowing this person to participate on the team."

Adler's two-game suspension will end in just under a week, Mox said. In the meantime, the Maryland City Athletic Association has appointed a temporary coach for his team.