Army football had a rough September. Army futbol, at least at the installation level, didn't.
The base team from Fort Irwin, California, became the first Army soccer club to win the Defender's Cup, an annual tournament held in San Antonio open to teams from all branches.
Irwin defeated a multiservice Hawaii-based team 1-0 in the final on a last-minute goal from Staff Sgt. Joshua Blodgett, who also serves as the team's head coach.
The win was the last of five single-elimination games for the club, which Blodgett started in April 2013. Fort Irwin went 2-0-1 in pool play while allowing zero goals.
Spc. Kenneth Hayes earned the shutout in goal in the Labor Day final, while Sgt. 1st Class Oscar Ayala was named defensive MVP.
Teams aren't limited to uniformed service members, with spouses and other civilians eligible to participate. The tournament has been an annual event since 1999, event organizers said, with all-Army teams entering the field in 2007.
The Fort Irwin team scrimmaged three nights a week as the Labor Day tournament neared, Blodgett said, to prepare for playing multiple games in a single day in San Antonio. In August, the club defeated teams from local fire and law enforcement units to win the Hometown Heroes Cup, a tournament sponsored by Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy.
Six of the tournament's 38 teams were from Army bases. Irwin knocked Fort Bliss, Texas, out in the quarterfinals before defeating an Air Force team in the semis to earn a spot in the title game.
