SF soccer referee coldcocked by player he penalized 
 
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 An adult-league soccer referee is recovering from serious injuries after a player he had penalized sucker-punched him, breaking his jaw and causing a traumatic brain injury in San Francisco’s Ocean View neighborhood Sunday morning, authorities said. 
 
 Officers responded to reports of the assault around 10 a.m. on the 600 block of Capitol Avenue near the fields behind the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman. 
 
 Witnesses told police that the 33-year-old victim was refereeing the match when he issued a yellow card to the offending player. Words were exchanged, Esparza said, and a second yellow card was issued, followed by a red card and an ejection from the game. 
 
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 The player, who was not identified, apparently disagreed with the call because he ran up behind the ref and coldcocked him before fleeing in a white Chevrolet Silverado. 
 
 The punch knocked the referee out, broke his jaw, loosened some teeth and caused a traumatic brain injury, Esparza said. An update on the victim’s condition was not immediately available Monday, but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. 
 
 Esparza said the referee knew the player who punched him. 
 
 The assailant was described as 6 feet 2 inches tall, 20 to 25 years old with black or brown hair. He was wearing a green and white soccer jersey at the time of the assault. 
 
 Esparza encouraged anyone with information about the incident to call investigators at (415) 575-4444. 
 
 Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A soccer referee has a broken jaw and a brain injury after getting sucker-punched during a game over the weekend in San Francisco, police said. 
 
 The incident happened at the fields on Capitol Avenue near the Minnie and Lovie Ward recreation center. 
 
 The ref had just given out a yellow card penalty, but the player disagreed and was shown a red card, and ejected. 
 
 He then came up from behind and punched out the referee. 
 
 “If you’re a fanatic in the sport, that’s one thing, but to assault a referee; to take your aggression because of a call he made, that’s a problem. It’s just a matter of time before we identify who he is, and hold him accountable,” Officer Carlos Manfredi of the San Francisco Police said. 
 
 The player fled in a truck.
– Police are searching for a soccer player who gave a referee a traumatic brain injury on Sunday morning in San Francisco. During an adult-league game, the 33-year-old referee gave a player a yellow card for a violation, which the player apparently argued, police tell the San Francisco Chronicle. The referee gave the player a second violation, then a red card, kicking him out of the game. That's when the player allegedly punched the referee from behind, knocking him unconscious, breaking his jaw, and causing a brain injury, police say. The referee is expected to survive. "If you're a fanatic in the sport, that's one thing, but to assault a referee; to take your aggression because of a call he made, that's a problem," an officer tells CBS San Francisco. The player—described as over 6 feet tall, 20 to 25 years old with black or brown hair—reportedly knew the referee and fled in a white pick-up truck. "It's just a matter of time before we identify who he is, and hold him accountable," the officer says. Last week in Argentina, a soccer referee was shot and killed by a player he kicked out of a match, reports the Guardian. (A ref also died from a punch in 2014.)