Hat-trick Hero Hall

  • Published
  • By Gary Rogers
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall, England --  Shane Hall a native of New Zealand scored three goals to help the 100th Air Refueling Wing Judge Advocate team defeat reigning champions 100th Civil Engineer Squadron, 5-3 during the indoor soccer championship at the Northside Fitness Center, May 8.

Both teams pressed hard in the opening minutes before Geoff Gough opened the scoring for CE with a good individual goal. The goal sparked off some controversy with JA complaining that a player from CE had already played for another CE team. The game came to a standstill with both sides trying to put across their argument. Who would argue against the Judge, right?

That incident certainly fired up the players and crowd alike, as both teams seem to complain on almost every tackle afterwards. Comments from the crowd were questioning why they don't have referees at championship games.

The game restarted and CE only managed to hold onto the lead for two minutes when Shane Hall scored the first of his three goals by tucking the ball in the bottom corner. Then coach Greg Posada showed his skills when fending off a couple of tackles to score and give JA a 2-1 lead.

With crunching tackles flying in from both sides, this heated game continued to ebb and flow. Three minutes before halftime a long-range effort from Hall found the net to extend JA's lead.

Half time: 100 CES 1 - 100 ARW/JA 3

Second half was no different, as both teams were giving their all. Then four minutes in, a powerful shot from the halfway line from Ivan Swarz flew in the goal to increase JA's lead to 4-1. A minute later Martin Parker scored for CE to make it 4-2 and keep them in the game.

Because of the double elimination rule, CE had to win to take it to a final game. Both teams had opportunities to score, but it was time for New Zealander Hall, to complete his hat-trick when his shot on goal took a slight deflection past George Lebeau in goal to put JA 5-2 in the lead.

Steve Bain scored what turned out to be a consolation goal seven minutes from the end for CE to make the final score 5-3.

Greg Posada the JA coach was full of praise for his players, said, "we came together as a team and played like a team, it wasn't pretty at times but we got the job done."

It's not often a New Zealander makes headlines in a soccer game, they usually have more to do with cricket or rugby. But Shane Hall, who met his wife while traveling through Vietnam said "couldn't do it with my eyes open" when asked what it like was to score three goals.

Full time: 100 CES 3 - 100 ARW/JA 5