43rd MDG completes perfect season with 3-1 victory over 43rd CES Published July 28, 2008 By Airman 1st Class Mindy Bloem 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- The 43rd Medical Group kicked their way to a 3-to-1 victory over the 43rd Civil Engineer Squadron at the Pope Fitness Center soccer field July 17. The event was marked with anticipation as both teams took their place on the field to see who would become this year's Pope soccer champions. The teams played two halves, each consisting of twenty minutes with a five-minute half time. Regular season performances set this up as an evenly matched game a MDG was undefeated and CE only lost once. Both teams came out to win but neither team scored during the first several minutes of the game. However, that would soon change when MDG's Kurt Everest drilled in the first goal of the game. Everest, who has been playing on the team since 2002, returned from leave that same day and showed up ready to play. He said it was important to him to get back in time for the big game because soccer is one of his favorite childhood pastimes. "It felt good to score," he said during half time. "I was really happy about it. I think we are going to do well in the second half, but the CE competition is pretty solid so I don't really know. They are a hard team to beat and they have a lot of really good players on their team. I think we are only going to win with team work and fast passing -- touch and go really -- you can't just dillydally on the ball. Teddy Wagoner, 43rd CES, remarked at half time on what he thought would be the key to his team winning the championship: "I think the key to winning will be tiring them out before we get tired out, because they have more people than we do," he said. Things grew worse for CE early in the second half, when MDG's Juan Benjumea, scored a goal from half way down the field. This goal gave MDG a 2-0 lead. CE managed to keep hope alive later into the second half when Luis Lepe scored on the MDG goalie from about 10 yards out. MDG answered right back though as Nyron Grandison, nicknamed "Jamaica," scored for MDG to give them back their two-goal lead at 3-1. With four minutes to go, the score remained 3-1 and the rest of the game followed suit as both the CE goalie, Jeffrey Soto and the MDG goalie, Chris Ortner, let nothing pass through their grasps. "I think we did really good," said Soto after the game. "We had trouble with substitutions and things because we didn't have the manpower we needed, and as a result our guys were really sucking air out there. The other team had a lot of extra people, but they also had skill. I knew we had something to worry about, and obviously we did. If we had brought a couple extra people, we might have given them a better run for their money." The MDG win gave them the closure they were looking for after a season of hard work. "This win feels amazing," said Tamrat Ararsa. "I have been playing every year for four years, and the last three, we were second place, so this is a big deal. "We practiced three times a week for about an hour and a half. We really wanted it this year. We started practicing about a month out from the start of the season, so it really paid off to win the trophy. I also think our record speaks for how hard we worked this year." Ararsa said many of the players had been teammates before this season and believed that past interaction helped their chances as well. "Communication made the difference this year, and we had good chemistry and good attitudes among the teammates," he said. "We had a good feeling before the season even started. We already told ourselves, we had to win it this year and we did. "Next year we are going to practice hard again and do the same thing we did this year," he added.