'King' Barry saves the day as CE retain soccer championship

  • Published
  • By Gary Rogers
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall, England --  The 100th Civil Engineer Squadron came from two goals down at half-time to win 3-2 and retain the intramural soccer championship at the Northside Fitness Center, May 27. Aaron Cooper scored the winner with a well taken volley seven minutes from time, but the real hero was CE goalie Barry 'the cat' King who made numerous saves to deny the 352nd Maintenance Squadron attack.
 
Barry King was immediately put to work at the start of the game making a smart save from Lenny McMillian. The undefeated CE team was struggling to find their game and it was no surprise when 352nd MXS took the lead with a well taken goal from Jonny Jaworek after 10 minutes. 'The cat' made another good save from Jonathan Cardenas before the impressive Joworek doubled 352nd's lead with a low shot at the near post.

Half time: 100th CES 0 - 352nd MXS 2

The start of the second half Jaworek was denied again by Barry King, but the game turned in the third minute when Geoff Gough's nice turn and shot found the bottom corner and got CE right back in the match.

Lenny McMillian, and the 352nd were frustrated again when a brilliant double save by King kept the Maintenance Squadron from keeping their two-goal lead. Even when 'the cat' was beaten, the woodwork came to his rescue, as MXS hit the post and bar.

With nine minutes to go, CE striker Geoff Gough's shot took a slight deflection and found the back of the net to tie the game up at 2-2. This was Geoff's 46th goal of the championship. With both teams tiring, and the game looking like it was heading for extra time, Aaron Cooper came up with the winner.

Winning Captain and Coach Andrew Keogh lifted the trophy and said, "All I can say is we had the cat in goal for us."

So 100th CES retained the trophy, but with the World Cup just around the corner and England's coach Fabio Capello having to soon make the tough decision on who will be his No. 1 goalkeeper to take to South Africa, he may look no further than Barry 'the cat' King.