The Jets varsity girls’ futsal team traveled to the International School of Busan (ISB) for the SKAC (Southern Korean Activities Conference) finals on May 23. The team started off with twelve players, but due to injuries, only ten took part in the tournament. Although the quality of their play dipped from their silver medal performance at KISAC (Korean International Schools Activities Conference), they finished the season in third place.
The Jets started off with captain Minori Kojima (9) as center back, Ellen Cho (16) as right wing, Nadia Woo (2) as left wing, co-captain Leewen Wang (20) and Annie Cho (3) as midfielders, Amy Shim (18) as striker, and Victoria Kang (0) as goalkeeper.
They kickstarted the day with a close game against HIS (Handong International School). Although the match ended in a tie of 1:1, they nearly turned the table in the second half. Captain Minori Kojima said, “For our first game against HIS, at the end, I gave a pretty good pass to Cho. She shot twice, but [the ball] hit the goal post and didn’t go in.”
Next, the girls faced the defending champs, BFS (Busan Foreign School), and brought unexpected results. Although the Sharks boasted two strong offensive players, the Jets’ defenders managed to prevent goals and ended the game in a 0:0 tie. Striker Amy Shim said, “In the game, Nadia blocked a shot that otherwise would have gone in the goal, which was really cool.”
With two ties, the Jets needed to win their next game to advance to the finals. Unfortunately, they matched up against the only undefeated team, ISB. Although they fought hard, they ended up losing 3:0 against the Bears. Shim said, “After the penalty kick, we lost the flow, and ISB scored three goals in a row. So we ended up losing.”
The last game turned out to be a worthwhile experience for both DIS and ISB. ISB Captain and all-star tournament winner Taehee Eder said, “DIS was really strong so breaking that defense was one of our struggles. But like I said, every time we played against DIS, it was always a good match. And everyone was positive, so it was great.”
The girls’ closed the season in third place for the second consecutive year. Defenders Nadia Woo and Minori Kojima won the all-star tournament award. Kojima said, “I felt very happy, but I feel like it wasn’t just one or two people who got the award. It was everyone’s effort that led to it.”
The Coaches are proud of the growth of the players throughout the season. Coach Faille said, “The girls have worked super hard during practice, so it’s good to see that it’s paying off on the field. In general, we have improved a lot at football this year.”
The Jets yielded the best results for high school football in years with new coaches. Coaches Faille and Gall dedicated time and effort that contributed to the team’s achievements. Kojima said, “I think the fact that we had two coaches really helped because they could focus on a group of people. They even analyzed the DMHS game and gave us a piece of paper with notes for each of the players. It really helped us grow as a team and as individuals.”
Although the 2024 season ended in mixed results, the squad improved. Coach Faille said, “Next year, we are going to have a bigger pool of players, maybe one or two teams, so I am looking forward to a great season. I also want to schedule off-season practices a little bit earlier in season two to get the ball rolling a bit earlier.” The girls hope to bring home a trophy in 2025 with a strong incoming freshmen class.
