SPORTS News

2007Armed Forces Men's Soccer Championship

In the final game of the 2007 Armed Forces Men's Soccer Championship the Army only needed to tie Air Force in regulation time to win the gold. When the game started it was obvious the men in blue had other ideas. When the final whistle sounded during regulation time the Air Force was on top 1-0 after a grueling 90-plus minutes of soccer. This forced the two exhausted teams to go into a tie-breaker. After playing two scoreless ten minute overtime periods, the two teams had to go into a shoot-out to determine who would win the gold.

About 45 seconds before the end of the second overtime period, Army Coach, SFC Augie Mendez, made a bold substitution move. He replaced starting Army goalie, 1LT Matthew Westmiller (Ft. Steward, GA), with 6'6" goalie SSG Momar Samb (Mannheim, Germany). This turned out to be one of the greatest decisions of the tournament.

The shoot-out started with SGT Barry Batiste-Swift (Soto Cano,
Honduras) putting the Army up by one as he scored the first goal. Capt Britton Miller (Travis AFB, CA) answered with a goal for the Air Force.

Air Force goalie Capt Travis Ruhl (Kunsan AB, Korea) gave the men in blue hope as he saved an attempt by CW2 David Ellis (Ft Huachuca, AZ).

SSG Samb evened things up for the Army when he save a shot by Air Force SSgt Quincey Collins (Naples, Italy). SSG Ricardo Dawkins (Ft Drum, NY) put the Army up again with his goal. Things started looking really bad for the Air Force when SSG Samb saved a shot by 2LT Cody Fournier (F.E. Warren AFB, WY).

PFC Carlos Ramirez (Ft Bragg, NC) extended Army's lead with yet another goal.

SSG Samb started the Army's golden ride when he save a shot by Air Force 2Lt Scott Muir(Travis AFB, CA). It was the third shoot-out save in a row for SSG Samb. His remarkable performance was the perfect culmination to another unforgettable Armed Forces Men's Soccer Championship.

In the first game of the day Navy defeated the Marine Corps 4-2.

Ken Polk, Armed Forces Sports

FINAL STANDINGS
..........................W   L
ARMY...............  *5   1
AIR FORCE.........  5   1
NAVY.................  2   4
MARINE CORPS..  0   6

*Won shoot-out

All-Tournament Team