After falling twice in the SP, Alissa could have withdrawn and spared herself the embarrassment of the 5-fall FS. The US would still have kept two spots and the lower-ranked US skater next year would still have to do the QR.
Sorry, but I think that's an absolutely terrible precedent to set. Yes, Alyssa was representing the USA, but skating is not and will never really be a team sport. A skater isn't going to be pulled out and a replacement from the bench sent in, even in the case of an injury. Pulling out to spare yourself embarrassment? What kind of role model would that be for an athlete at any level? What and who would define embarrassment? No longer would the chant be that "when the going gets tough the tough get going" but, "If you don't do well in the short, you can always withdraw (give up)." I can just envision the can of worms it would open at the lower levels. Coaches would have to change their tactic from the confidence building "Go out there and show everyone what you are made of" to "OK, I guess since you can't make it in the top...whatever number...you can stop now." Part of learning how to compete is learning that you keep going pretty much no matter what. How many skaters would we have left if, while they are learning to compete, they focused on whether they were embarrassing themselves (or their coaches or their parents) or if they knew they could just give up and quit during the competition? It's not that I haven't seen this happen, but in my experience, those competitors are always looked upon very, very poorly.