Kirtland takes first place at military Defender's Cup soccer tournament

  • Published
  • By Kendahl Johnson
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Kirtland's soccer team mounted a furious comeback in the final minutes of the championship game of the military Defender's Cup, narrowly edging FE Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., to capture first place honors.

Trailing 3-1 with five minutes remaining, Kirtland pulled a defender and started pushing its offense. Airman 1st Class Brian Ott, 58th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, cut the deficit in half on a goal from a cross by Staff Sgt. Peter Miller, also of the 58th AMXS. With just seconds remaining, William Hill, Sandia Laboratories, tied the score on a sharp 30-yard shot that hit the crossbar and barely crossed the goal line. The team then won the game on penalty kicks (4-3).

"We kept telling our players, 'it's not over until the final whistle blows,'" said Tech. Sgt. James Swenson, one of the team's coaches. "It was a great final game with a thrilling comeback. We had a lot of high quality Air Force players on this team and it showed."

Swenson, a section chief in the 58th Maintenance Squadron, said the Defender's Cup is the biggest soccer tournament in the United States for military teams. This year's event, held in San Antonio, Texas, over Labor Day weekend, had 28 teams. The teams can have civilians - Kirtland's team had three - but must be 80 percent military members.

Kirtland went unbeaten in group play, defeating Scott AFB 5-0, Andrews AFB 5-0, and Keesler 1-1. They advanced to the knockout stage seeded fifth overall.

In the first knockout game, they defeated Seymour Johnson AFB 3-1. They then narrowly advanced following a 5-4 penalty kick victory over Moody AFB after tying 2-2 in regulation. They went on to beat Warner Robins 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

The team played Keesler in the semifinals, a team they had tied earlier in the tournament. The outcome was different the second time they played, as Kirtland's offense exploded for a 6-2 victory to advance to the finals against FE Warren.

"We came to play that day. We wanted to go to the finals and win" Swenson said.

Miller won the Golden Boot Award, which is given to the tournament's highest scoring player with 9 goals. Capt. Jeremiah Kirschman, Space Development and Test Directorate, won the Defensive Player of the Tournament award. All of the tournament hardware went to team Kirtland.

Because of the intensity of the tournament and the large number of games played in a short amount of time, Swenson said he was concerned when some players on the Kirtland team could not attend.

"You almost always have injuries in these tournaments, so we'd have liked to have 20 players, but we scrapped together the best 16 players we could get," he said. "We felt with the caliber of players on our team, we would be successful."

He said the challenge is not only getting time off from work, but also the financial cost involved. There is no funding for teams, so players must burden all costs for uniforms, room and board, transportation and tournament fees. The team got some financial support from the Kirtland Federal Credit Union, which sponsored the team and paid its tournament fees. Swenson hopes such a strong showing in this year's event will raise visibility of the Defender's Cup and the Kirtland team, that they will be able to get additional sponsorships next year.

Kirtland aims to defend its championship at next year's Defender's Cup, but with different leadership. Swenson, along with co-coach Tech Sgt, Jesus Aguayo are passing coaching duties to Miller and Staff Sgt. Scott Elbers.

"I've been to 13 Defender's Cup tournaments and Aguayo has been to 10. We feel it's time for some new blood to take over the team and continue the winning tradition," Swenson said.