Hope Solo's husband comes to her defense: 'It is a witch hunt'

"It is a witch hunt, you can put that in the paper," Stevens said of the ongoing domestic violence controversy surrounding the U.S. women's goalkeeper.

Stevens spoke to the newspaper at Winnipeg's James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, where he was about to board a plane to Vancouver for the United States' final World Cup group match on Tuesday.

"It's not hard for me because I know Hope can handle it," Stevens said. "I think that what's hard is that she's the victim of something that was really scary and a really unfortunate incident. [She] being classified even remotely close to Ray Rice and these other domestic violence incidents is ridiculous and outright wrong."

Earlier in the week, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" reported that Solo was combative with officers after her arrest last year on accusations that she assaulted her half-sister and her teenage nephew, an incident during which authorities described Solo as the "primary aggressor.''

She should go solo