Man accused of groping Houston Dash's Sofia Huerta after friendly in Mexico faces lawsuit
A soccer fan at a Saturday friendly between the NWSL’s Houston Dash and Mexico’s Tigres Femenil in Monterrey is facing a lawsuit after he appeared to grope Dash player Sofia Huerta while she posed for a selfie.
A social media image of the man grabbing Huerta’s left breast drew outrage and condemnation from both teams and led to the fan reportedly being identified.
Indigna a jugadoras agresión a Sofía Huerta https://t.co/rR65v9e8wP pic.twitter.com/IKciCbA2Qg
— INFO7 (@info7mty) October 8, 2019
Public request helped lead to identification
According to Mexico’s Medio Tiempo, Tigres identified the fan with the help of a public request and filed a legal case with the local prosecutor’s office in Nuevo León, Mexico. The team did not publicly identify the accused fan.
Tigres vowed to ban the fan for life from its facilities in a statement released prior to the news that they had identified a suspect.
▶️ COMUNICADO A NUESTRA AFICIÓN#EstoEsTigresFemenil 🐯 pic.twitter.com/UyM1ID9Su2
— Tigres Femenil (@TigresFemenil) October 7, 2019
“As a result of events that took place on Saturday, October 5, during which a “pseudo-fan” reportedly attempted to undermine the dignity of a Houston Dash player at the end of the match, we’ve decided to take action, the October 7 statement reads, per a Deadspin translation. “We will file a lawsuit against whoever is responsible for what took place.
“Once we identify this “pseudo-fan,” he will be banned for life from entering any of our facilities, and from attending any of our men’s or women’s games.”
The Dash released a statement echoing the sentiment of the Tigres release.
Huerta, 26, played for the Mexican National team before the U.S. Soccer Federation made a successful request for the Boise, Idaho, native to play for the USWNT in 2017.
She played in college at Santa Clara and for the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL before joining the Dash. She has not publicly commented on the incident.
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