Fort Carson wins Rocky Mountain soccer tourney

  • Published
  • By Dave Castilla
  • Intramural Sports director
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Talk about déjà vu. The two top teams from last year's competition were battling it out again in the championship match of the 2009 Rocky Mountain Soccer championship hosted by the Academy Saturday. Fort Carson took a hard fought 2-1 match over Schriever Air Force Base. 

Schriever ended the first half with a 1-0 lead. The lone goal was scored on a tap in by Marcus McKindra. 

In the second half, Fort Carson kept the pressure on playing most of the game in its half of the field. With less than 10 minutes left in the game, Schriever's goalie was called for taking down Clinton Norton inside the box. Anthony Vasquez was called on to kick the penalty shot and made it, tying the score at 1. 

With about a minute left Norton received a long pass down the middle from Rony Reyes setting Norton up on a one-on-one with Schriever's keeper. Norton got the better of the situation and scored the go-ahead goal for Fort Carson. 

With time running out, Schriever could not muster any more offensive threats. 

Fort Carson has won the championship for the second straight year, with Schriever taking the runner's-up slot again. Fort Carson's coach Rony Reyes praised Clinton Norton for scoring seven goals in the tournament with four coming against Buckley AFB. 

Fort Carson received the traveling plaque, and both teams will receive 15 T-shirts each. 

All the military installations in the Rocky Mountain region participated in the soccer tournament. The format had the Air Force Academy, F.E. Warren and Peterson Air Force bases in Pool A and Fort Carson and Buckley and Schriever AFBs in Pool B. The top two teams coming from each pool would compete in a single elimination tournament to determine the champion.