Travis soccer team places fourth at AF tournament

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shaun Emery
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Fighting through injuries and the loss of their leading goal scorer the Travis Air Force Base soccer team finished fourth out at the annual "Defenders Cup" soccer tournament Columbus Day weekend at Lackland AFB, Texas. 

The team's run ended in the quarterfinals, in a hard-fought game against Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Trailing 2-1 with two minutes left in regulation time, the team scored to tie the game up. Regulation would end at a 2-2 tie. 

Both teams were stymied in the two 10-minute overtime periods, so the game went to penalty kicks. When penalty kicks couldn't provide a winner the teams went to a final sudden death penalty kick round. Travis surrendered a goal and lost the game. 

"Our [goal] keeper, Tommy Croteau, did a great job for us after regulation ended," said Travis coach Jamie Cortes. "In the end they just made one more shot than we did." 

Even more remarkable was that the Travis team without their leading goal scorer, Brendan Victory, who left the game with an injured ankle early in the second half. 

"Losing Brendan was a big blow to the team," said Cortes. "But we rallied together and played some great soccer." 

Victory would earn the golden boot award for scoring the most goals with 12, despite his team not going the final game. 

"If he had a few more games, I think he would have had a lot more," said Cortes.
Victory gave all the credit to his teammates. 

"I couldn't have done it without them," said Victory. "This was a team accomplishment. If they hadn't fed me the ball, I wouldn't have been able to score." 

Cortes said he was proud of the team's effort considering the number of injuries they suffered and the relatively short amount of time the team played together. 

"This was the first time we've played in this tournament," he said. "I think we really pulled together and had some success. We'll be looking for more success in the future." 

The team was seeded fifth going in the quarterfinals. They earned a spot by beating Kirtland AFB, N.M., 6-0 after making some offensive adjustments. 

In the earlier rounds, they beat Medina Annex, Texas 5-2, Barksdale AFB, La. 5-0 and the same Davis-Monthan team they would eventually fall to 2-1. 

The Travis soccer team is always looking for new players. Anyone interested should contact Staff Sgt. Jamie Cortes at 423-7301.