Air Force earns bragging rights

In first year of joint base, Airmen score three first-half goals and play strong defense to defeat Army team

Bob Reinert/Northwest Guardian

Before the start of the second half Saturday, a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft from McChord’s 62nd Air Wing performed a fly-over of Cowan Stadium.

On the soccer pitch below, Air Force power had already played out.

By the time the referee’s whistle ended the opening 45 minutes, the McChord team had knocked home three goals on the way to a 3-1 victory in the annual Army-Air Force Soccer Game. Army made it interesting in the second half, however.

“I was concerned,” said Air Force coach Christopher Heaney. “There (were) two games going on.”

In the first half, goals by Xaviour Campbell, Angelo Fotinopoulos and Michael Senn — the latter two within a minute of each other — gave Air Force a comfortable, and surprising, advantage.

“It was great,” Heaney said. “It was amazing.”

The second half went a little differently. After halftime adjustments, Army threatened more frequently in the offensive zone. Marco Ecute, the smallest player on the field, provided plenty of fireworks.

“In the first half, we didn’t have good movement of the ball,” Ecute said. “So that’s what killed us.”

Heaney said that, despite its lack of practice time, the McChord team played well together early.

“We clicked faster in the first half than they did,” Heaney said. “It took them ’til the second half to finally find their groove.”

With Ecute acting as the playmaker, Army finally got moving. His speed, ballhandling and passing created opportunities for himself and his teammates. It also helped pin Air Force in its own end for large stretches.

“We played defense the whole time,” Heaney said.

“We started moving the ball up better,” Ecute said.

Ecute broke through the Air Force defense again in the 88th minute and found Alvin Perez-Cruz with a nifty pass for Army’s lone goal.

“They had some good shots,” Heaney said. “They just got that one that went in.”

The Army loss had nothing to do with lack of effort, according to Ecute.

“We tried, but it wasn’t our day today,” Ecute said. “We pushed them and pushed them. You saw how many shots we took and nothing went in.”

Many of those shots sailed high or wide. When they were on target, Air Force goalkeeper Kirk Phelps turned them away.

“They had the better team today,” Ecute said.

Scoring summary

Air Force — 3 0 — 3

Army — 0 1 — 1

AF — Xaviour Campbell, 17th minute

AF — Angelo Fotinopoulos, 37th minute

AF — Michael Senn, 38th minute

A — Alvin Perez-Cruz, 88th minute

More photos from the match click on the following link:

Armed Forces Day Army and Air Force soccer match