Ramstein’s Dylan Sharpy looks to pass the ball as International School of Brussels midfielder Alessandro Pryce approaches from behind Friday during the Royals’ 3-1 loss to visiting ISB. (Tom Goode/Special to Stars and Stripes)

Ramstein’s Dylan Sharpy looks to pass the ball as International School of Brussels midfielder Alessandro Pryce approaches from behind Friday during the Royals’ 3-1 loss to visiting ISB. (Tom Goode/Special to Stars and Stripes)

Ramstein goalkeeper Cody Collins stretches out to make one of his five saves in a 3-1 loss Friday to visiting International School of Brussels on a shot by ISB’s Lucas McNaughton. Trailing the play is ISB’s Stein Kruiderein. (Tom Goode/Special to Stars and Stripes)

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Four unbeaten teams took to a rain-slickened field here Friday, and when the skidding stopped, the Ramstein girls and International School of Brussels boys each emerged with 3-1 victories.“ISB is a very talented team,” Ramstein coach Ricardo Buitrago said after his Lady Royals pushed three second-half goals past beleaguered but undaunted ISB goalkeeper Vanessa Sepul-Eazcarraga. “They are very good at first touches and in transition. That’s why it was 0-0 at halftime.”ISB boys’ coach Philippe Kaisin was equally complimentary about his opponent, which led 1-0 early before surrendering three unanswered goals.“Ramstein is a fantastic team,” Kaisin said. “We have a lot of respect for their tradition.”Kaisin felt, however, his team succumbed excessively to the Royals’ reputation, at least at first.“We came out flat,” he said. “Sometimes, you can have too much respect. In the first 15 minutes, Ramstein had lots of chances.”The Royals converted just one of them, and that one didn’t look all that dangerous when Drew Guffey found himself unmarked 30 yards from the ISB goal. Guffey teed the ball up and lined a rocket into the upper left corner of the net.“Occasionally,” Guffey said afterward when asked whether he often scored from that distance.ISB answered just minutes later when Lucas McNaughton cashed in a penalty kick awarded when the Ramstein defense brought him down in the penalty box, and went up 2-0 five minutes before halftime when Stein Kruiderein ran onto a rebound off Ramstein keeper Cody Collins and banged it into the lower right corner from the penalty-spot area.The go-ahead score helped ISB build momentum which carried the Raiders (2-0 overall going into Saturday’s game at unbeaten Kaiserslautern) to the victory which firmly injected them into the Division I title picture. That picture is to become complete on this same field in just over three weeks.“We built up as the game went along,” Kaisin said. “In the second half, we took control.”Ramstein’s Guffey had tourney thoughts after Friday’s game, which dropped the Royals to 2-1 overall going into Saturday’s Region II contest against visiting Black Forest Academy.“I’m glad we played them now,” Guffey said when asked about taking on as accomplished a team as ISB after a three-week pause for Spring Break. “It kicks us into gear for Euros.”Ramstein’s girls reached tourney mode after halftime, thanks in large part to the work of their back line, anchored by sweeper Kat Seebeck, younger sister of All-European Josie Seebeck. The elder Seebeck, who has accepted a scholarship from Central Michigan University, had her broken right hand in a cast Friday and didn’t play.“She’s phenomenal back there,” Buitrago said of his other Seebeck, a freshman who still thinks of herself as a central midfielder. “She’s very composed. She coordinates the defense and gets the offense started. She has great vision and command.”Seebeck said there’s some pressure at her new post.“It’s a hard position,’ Seebeck said, “but I have a great goalie behind me.”Thanks to the work of Seebeck and Co., Ramstein’s goalie, Terri-Leigh Obermiller, might as well have brought her homework with her Friday. She was called on to make just three saves all day, and touched the ball just twice in the second half.ISB’s keeper on the other hand, spent her Friday turning aside 20 Ramstein shots.“She shut us out in the first half,” Buitrago said of Sepul-Eazcarraga, “but our girls kept trying.”Ramstein broke through quickly after intermission, when Rebecca Coleman banged home a feed from her sister, Victoria. ISB equalized 12 minutes later, when Gabriella Markusdottir took a pass from Nikoline Johannessen Gjoertz while running down the right sideline and angled the ball low inside the far post past Obermiller.Ramstein returned the favor just a minute later, however, when Seebeck put the ball on Chantell DuBois’ foot as she ran down the right side, and DuBois, too, shot it inside the far post. Mackenzie Crews added an unassisted insurance goal at game’s end to lift the Lady Royals to a 3-0 mark going into Saturday’s BFA game.ISB will take a 1-1 mark into Saturday’s game at unbeaten Kaiserslautern.“We’ve been working hard,” Seebeck said of her team’s midseason-form performance after a three-week layoff. “We hit the ground running.” bryanr@estripes.osd.mil