Day 3 of Far East High School Soccer Tournaments: Daegu dethroned, Seoul on patrol, sunshine and other thing
Published: May 21, 2008
-- No more do DODDS schools reign at the top of the Class A heap. That, thanks to Jonathan Kim, David Kim, Yusuke Kakinuma and Yongsan International-Seoul, which exits the 2007-08 school year with a 19-win boys soccer team; and sweeper Mary Shaw, striker Lauren Cleope and Faith Academy. Faith went unbeatenand blanked defending champion Daegu American 4-0 in Wednesday's girls final; YIS-Seoul shut out Nagoya International in the boys title match.
-- That's two titles in two tries for Faith in the Class A tournament; the Lady V's beat Pusan American in the 2004 tournament.
-- And YIS-Seoul has enjoyed the finest boys year in school history, with the Class A soccer title coming three months after the school's initial Class A basketball title.
-- Good luck in Hawaii, Steve Epps. What a great way to go out.
-- If there's a two-word answer for Faith's success this season, 23-3 and a Class A title, here it is: Mary Shaw. You'd never know she was a first-year soccer player. Talk about somebody who got to every attack and squashed it with a big boot of that strong left foot.
-- Interesting thing about that Nagoya squad (besides those eye-popping green-and-white striped shirts) -- the Dolphins were missing eight of their key players, who had gone on a Habitat for Humanity field trip. Yet Nagoya still reached the final.
-- Perhaps somewhat overshadowed in Faith's superb effort against Daegu was the Warriors' semifinal shootout victory over Osan American. Scoreless through regulation, scoreless through extra time, it came down to PKs (which I can't stand, but still exciting), and freshman Kristina Bergman and the Warriors were one better than the Cougars, 4-3.
-- Whereas last year's championship matches, Daegu over Matthew C. Perry's girls 2-1 in overtime and E.J. King over Indianhead in PKs, were chock full of excitement, Wednesday's title matches seemed a bit ... well ... anticlimatic. Here's hoping the pendulum swings back toward thrilling, when the Class A boys tournament resumes at Iwakuni and the girls moves to Misawa and Robert D. Edgren High School for the first time.
-- Speaking of Edgren, that shaking you felt about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday emanated from Yokota Air Base, where the Eagles girls, after going 0-3-1 and outscored 12-1 in four regular-season matches with Zama American, blanked the Trojans 2-0. That's an Edgren team that entered the Class AA tournament 0-15-3, while Zama won the DODDS-Japan league for the first time in school history and went 16-2-1 during the season. Just goes to show you, anything is possible.
-- After Wednesday's play, Seoul American's girls stood at the brink of reaching its first Class AA girls title match. They face off with American School In Japan at 2 p.m., Thursday, while Kubasaki takes on Kadena in an all-Okinawa semifinal at 4 p.m.
-- Speaking of those on Seoul patrol, don't sleep on the Falcons boys. After an 0-2 start, they've gone 3-0-1 in their last four matches. On paper, Christian Academy In Japan should be favoured to end Seoul's title march, but then again, Zama's girls were favoured to beat Edgren. That's why they play the matches on the field.
-- Strap in and enjoy the last two competitive days of the 2007-08 school year.
