LRS defeats Marines 9-5, wins soccer championship

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Pedro Mota
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  On the final day of a two-week intramural soccer tournament, there were two teams still standing to play the championship game.

The 56th Logistics Readiness Squadron stepped onto the Luke Air Force Base soccer field Monday to take on the Marine Corps' team 9-5 for the intramural soccer championship. The two teams had already faced each other once in the tournament, with LRS sending the Marines to the second-chance, or "losers" bracket, in the parlance of sports fans.

The double-elimination tournament allowed the Marines to play in the losers' bracket with all the teams that had previously lost. They fought their way through the gauntlet and made it to the championship game.

"It was exciting to earn another opportunity to represent the Marine Corps," said Mauricio Sandoval, Marine Corps team mid fielder. "We gave it our all and faced off against some tough opponents."

The rules to the intramural games are slightly different from the Federation Internationale de Football Association, the international governing body of soccer. The rules used, NCAA 2012 Outdoor Rules, say the maximum number of participates per side is seven, including the goal keeper. The teams can play with a goal keeper with as few as four players on the field but must start the game with six players. The games consist of two 25-minute halves while the clock runs continuously throughout the game.

The rules had an impact on the type of performance the teams produced. For instance players called their own penalties and certain moves were eliminated from play. However, the game was still fast-paced.

With a back and forth match in the beginning, LRS had already gained an advantage at half time, scoring five goals, while the Marines scored two. The Marines had started to come back in the second half almost tying it up, but the LRS goal keeper stepped up his game and was efficiently blocking, rarely letting one go into the net.

"To see the amount of teams and talented players that actually participated was awesome," said Rodolfo Perez, 56th LRS. "It was communication that became the key to our team's success, as well as playing high-tempo every minute of every game."