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RAF ALCONBURY, England – A marathon of soccer games on Friday and Saturday finally gave Alconbury a chance to see what the division championships might hold in Germany. And the results are promising. For weeks, there was no evidence. Alconbury has spent the entire season playing teams from larger divisions. For the boys, having a losing record, 0-2-1 as of Thursday, largely came from playing against opponents such as Lakenheath, AFNORTH and SHAPE. Jeffrey Black, Alconbury’s boys soccer coach, said he generally likes the Dragons to play against the bigger teams. The fruit of those games was no losses during a marathon of three games during two days. Alconbury’s boys vied with Rota, Brussels and Menwith Hill, coming out with a win and two ties. Still, Black was cautious about the rest of the season. “It’s anybody’s season,” he said. Alconbury’s girls came into the weekend with a bit more to defend than the boys. Facing the same heavyweights, the girls had a winning record at 1-0-2 as of Thursday. They kept that winning record, beating Rota and Menwith Hill, though they suffered a 1-0 loss against Brussels. This makes for a gratifying seasons so far. Last year was dismal time for the girls, with six losses in Region I and 11 overall. It was particularly gratifying to beat Rota. “Very exciting because they’ve kicked our butts for years,” said Valerie Pisierra, sponsor for Alconbury’s girls team. “It’s nice to return the favor.” Perhaps more importantly than the wins, the girls’ performance against Rota and Brussels — two good teams last year — gave Armando Cordero, Alconbury’s girls coach, a better sense of how far his team can go. “If we keep playing the way that we’re playing, it’s going to be us and Brussels again in the final,” Cordero said.mathis.adam@stripes.com

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