Armed Forces Championship (F)	8-16 May 04, Fort Eustis, VA
	CISM Championship (F)	27 May-06 Jun 04, Fort Eustis, VA
	Armed Forces Championship (M)	2-09 Nov 04, San Diego, CA
	CISM Championship (M)	12-20 Feb 05, Victoria, Canada

Big Orange Blast to a 3-0 Win in CISM Finals

Story, photos by Spc. Charles Siler
Editor

The last time the Dutch and Germans squared off against each other in a world championship game, the Germans walked away with a 2 to 1 victory in the 1974 World Cup. This time, the Netherlands Military Womens' Soccer team exacted a little revenge in the Conseil International du Sport Militaire finals at Fort Eustis , beating the Germans 3 to 0 with a flurry of goals in the final minutes of the game.

The Gold Medal championship game began 12:15 p.m. Saturday here, but after 80 minutes of play, both sides were locked in a dead heat, with the score even at zero each. But in the 84th minute, the Dutch broke the deadlock with the go-ahead goal, shortly after which they nailed the coffin shut on the Germans, scoring again in the 88th and 90th minutes, winning the game 3 to 0.

“It feels very fine,” said Rebecca Tousalwa, a striker for the Netherland Military Womens' Soccer team. “At other tournaments we had been playing some of our best football, but we were only able to take second place. It is great to finally win first place.”

The championship game was preceded Saturday morning by the Bronze Medal game, in which the Americans squared off against our neighbors to the north, the Canadians.

The third-place game was also locked in a bitter tie after the Canadians scored their only goal of the game just after halftime to make the score 1 to 1. The tie held for most of the second half, even after Lauren Rowe, a forward for the Americans, failed to capitalize on a penalty kick. She made up for the missed opportunity near the end of the game, when she and another teammate combined for back-to-back goals, propelling the Americans to a 3 to 1 victory and third place overall.

“This isn't the game you want to play in,” said Mabel Hannah, a defender for the American Military Women's Soccer team, referring to the third-place game. “But we came out and did our best. I am really proud of our team. We are a good, clean team; good sport s.”

During the awards ceremony following the championship game, the Americans were presented the ‘Fair Play' award for being the most fair and clean competitors of the tournament, which began Memorial Day weekend with an Olympic-style opening ceremonies at Murphy Field May 29.

“The tournament went pretty well, the weather was nice enough to hold off for us,” said Bill Von Ohlen, project officer for the tournament. “This was a world championship and we stepped up to the plate as hosts, and I think we did it well. We're a relatively small installation and we still pulled it off.”

Von Ohlen recognized that the tournament was a success in large part because of the support provided by the Soldiers of the 7th Tran sport ation Group, who set up and broke down tournament sites, as well as drove the teams to the games and other sites in the area.

“This experience was great, everything here is very different from Germany ,” said Melanie Spoolder, a defender with the German Military Womens' Soccer team. “The weather is very hot here and all of the food is fast food. But it has been fun, everyone on the team has had fun. It's a great honor to get to play for our country and we all got to play against some really good competition.”