U.S. women’s CISM soccer team is being finalized Published May 27, 2009 By Senior Airman Eric Summers Jr. 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Now that the start of the 2009 Counseil Du Sport Militaire Women's Soccer Championship is only nine days away, the team representing the United States is being finalized with women from all four branches of service competing for positions. Tryouts began May 18 at the sports complex at Biloxi High Schooland wind up Tuesday. The tryouts began with three days of scrimmage games with the 45 women from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines facing off against local soccer teams and running drills. After those three days, 21 players were cut from the team, according to Keesler CISM project officer Brian Mooers. Sunday, another four players were released, leaving 20 to represent the U.S. in the CISM competition that kicks off June 6. "This is a great opportunity to give people with talent to play for their country and experience other cultures and also make friendships on the field and with other countries," said Army's Emily Nay, who tried out for the fourth time. "We get two weeks to train together and what is most challenging is never getting to play with each other because we are so far spread apart across the nation and the world," Nay said. "It's definitely challenging trying to learn the whole-team aspect with 10 other people and pulling together for a win," said Wendy Emminger, who tried out for the third time. She's stationed at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "We are already bonding together," said Emminger. "We are really confident and we are going to have a strong team." "We really appreciate the local teams playing against us," said Nay. "It gives us really good practices and even though they are younger than us, they still play hard and give us a good match."