MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR -- CAMP PENDLETON - One Marine's first childhood memories are of running down the field with the soccer ball. Now, 17 years later, she will join some of the armed services' best women soccer players at the U.S. Naval Academy for the Armed Forces All-Star Team tryouts May 6-18.

Cpl. Marina D. Lopez, administrative chief, 1st Force Service Support Group confesses to knowing two things well - soccer and the Marine Corps. Hand-in-hand they will take her closer toward reaching her ultimate goals.

"I've been playing soccer since the age of 4 years old," Lopez said. "I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school, the only thing I know is the Corps."

Her goal after enlistment is to join the ranks of the San Diego Spirit, a local professional soccer team, which will bring her steps closer to the Olympics.

Lopez is among several Marines selected for the tryouts based on their resumes of experience in the sport. Her resume lists year-after-year of playing time for league, varsity, college and military intramural teams.

However, if she makes the team she faces several challenges.

"It's been a while since I actually played with female teammates," she confesses. "I've always been the only girl on the team, I've always played soccer with the guys."

For Lopez it has been three years since playing on an all-women soccer team.
She said that it has been difficult finding organized women's soccer teams on base.

"I get out there and play with the guys as much as I can," she said.

However brutal this has proved to be, Lopez has kept her motivation and love for the game.

"I got busted noses, black eyes, and plenty of bruises, but anything goes when it comes to soccer," the 5-foot-2-inch, 120-pound hard-charger said.

Regardless of the injuries suffered, Lopez prides herself on never giving up.

"One thing that the Marine Corps has taught me is that giving up may cost someone their life," she confided. "On the field it may cost the team the game."

This Marine does not think about the pain, or the fact that she is the only female on the playing field most of the time. Instead, she concentrates on what she considers most important.

"When I'm out there on the field nothing else matters to me but my team," she said.

If Lopez makes the All Armed Forces Team, she plans on spreading her esprit de corps to the other service members there.

"I put my heart into every game," she said.
In the past, Lopez was used to being one of the shortest and smallest players on the team, and this adversity has helped groom her determination to stand out by being the best.

"When you play, you can't be afraid of anyone out there," she commented. "The only way I get through my game is with my heart, you can be the best player in technique and have no heart, which then only makes you half as good as me."

Lopez admitted that in life, soccer and the Marine Corps she has constantly had to prove herself.

"I always have to prove myself to the guys, girls, and most importantly, me," she said. "I know what to do - put me on the field and I'm a whole other person."