Army outlasts Navy

Zarzar scores in final minutes to complete come-from-behind win

Matt Smith

Northwest Guardian

They say the team that works together, wins together.

The Fort Lewis Army soccer team proved that adage true on the Fourth of July as it used myriad shots set up by solid passing to best the Bremerton Naval Base team 2-1 at Cowan Stadium.

With the game deadlocked at 1-1 and in its closing minutes, Army’s Tougbay Zarzar faked a shot from close range inside the box, sending Navy’s keeper to the ground in an attempt to block the shot. Zarzar popped the ball over the keeper’s head and netted the easy game winner.

The keeper played tough in goal for Navy as an attacking Army offense relentlessly peppered the goal with shots all game long only to be turned back more often than not.

But Zarzar finally got the best of him and Army picked up a nice win.

“It was a team effort, man,” Zarzar said. “From the start of the game, I knew we had this game. We were a little nervous at the start, but we have some good players, man. That goal, it was a team effort. I knew he (Jamie Jones) was going to pass the ball and I kept running.”

Though happy his team was able to pull out the victory, Army head coach Delbert Wong still sees room for improvement for his squad.

“We could do better,” he said. “We have a couple workhorses up front. The two forwards, Matt (Jones) and Ramon (De Leon), they had several chances. This game should have been 5-1, but we’ll take a win. With a win we get more respect. I’m very happy.”

By game’s end, Army proved they were the better team. However, that didn’t appear to be the case early on as Navy scored just minutes into the contest for a 1-0 lead, which Navy took into halftime despite a strong offensive push by Army.

Army began the second half where it left off in the first, making aggressive offensive moves deep in Navy territory. Army’s aggression paid dividends early in the half as Jones was taken down from behind inside the box and was awarded a penalty shot.

With the ball just yards away from the goal, Jones launched it to the keeper’s right, but he dove to his left and the game was tied.

With every game it plays and with every practice it goes through, the Army team continues to improve, which Zarzar and Wong both say is a result of familiarity.

“The chemistry, the team cohesion, we have that,” Zarzar said. “We’ve played together for two months now and I think we’re better than the (military all star) team that played the (Tacoma) Tide.”