The high school girls’ soccer team traveled to Branksome Hall Asia (BHA) for the Korean International Schools Activities Conference (KISAC) from April 23 to 25. Motivated by a crushing defeat against Daegu Middle High School (DMHS), the team entered the matchup determined to redeem themselves.

Day one opened with an afternoon round-robin matchup against their crosstown rivals Busan Foreign School (BFS). The girls lacked early intensity and started out slow. Relentless head-on attacking plays from BFS dug into the defense and the formation clustered in the wrong spots, allowing strikers to drive to the box. 

With all defenders positioned higher upfield, goalkeeper Victoria Kang (10) rushed out of the goal to occupy more space against the opponent. Despite their efforts, BFS passed the ball into the net and scored the opening goal.

The Jets took the wake-up call and ramped up the tempo moving into the second half. Although they fired off one shot after another, none found the back of the net, and the girls fell to defeat. (0:1)

Pitted against Saint Johnsbury Academy (SJA) for their next round-robin, the girls took an one-hour recovery period and settled into a cagey opening. They made calm link-up plays across the field and picked out passes into the uncovered space to create scoring opportunities.  

Early in the match, senior right back Apple Jun (17) surged up the pitch with the ball, searching for an open DIS teammate. Instead, her solid pass into the box deflected off a defender’s leg and found the Bears’ net, opening the scoring for the day. In addition, miscommunication along the backline allowed breakthroughs from their opponents and cost the Jets two goals in the first half. (1:2)

As the second half got underway, striker Mika Lee (77) spearheaded the offense with her pace and high stamina to drive up the sideline. Lee’s constant pressure on the ball paid off later in the match. On a corner-kick, midfielder Leewen Wang (1) sent the ball toward the left post, where Lee broke through the defense and buried it into the net.

To secure the win, striker Mary Cho (20) chased after an unmarked ball near the box and dribbled closer to the goal. Despite the heavy contact, Cho fired a strong shot to the top right corner to take back the lead. Lee and Cho continued to rattle off shots to maintain pressure in the attacking half until the whistle marked the end of the match. (3:2)

“I’ve seen them playing with much greater intensity and that was something throughout the whole tournament. We’ve never really seen them play with that level of intensity to really match the other teams and to be better in most cases,” said Coach Gall.

On day two, varsity faced BHA, the other pool’s third seed team, for a ticket to the winners’ bracket. With high intensity, the girls widened their formation to avoid tight battles and work the ball upfield. Smooth link-up plays earned the team a free kick, and Wang capitalized with a quick strike that caught the defense off guard with a quick penalty and buried it into the net.

BHA increased the pressure and launched a relentless wave of attacks against the Jets. Although they held the defensive line, an unexpected invasion in the field switched the game around.

“While we were recycling, our forwards passed back to defense to make our own play. Then a dog suddenly appeared and it was running towards Victoria and our goal. The team was stalled by the dog because the dog was running towards Victoria and BHA just passed it into the goal. It counted somehow because the referee didn’t count it as an invasion,” Wang said. (1:1)

Despite the incident, the squad constantly created attack opportunities in the second half. To extend the lead, Wang curled a corner kick toward the goal, where it deflected off the BHA goalkeeper and into the net. (2:1) The girls applied constant pressure until the clock hit zero to wrap up with a win.

The team entered the semi-finals against North London Collegiate School (NLCS) Orcas, who sat comfortably on top seat. Opponent strikers headed into the backline right off the bat and pulled the defense out of shape. Despite multiple risky saves at the goal, the Orcas threaded a pass just out of reach and edged in front. (1:0)

The Jets turned the tables with the same intensity. After a series of corner-kick chances, Wang drilled the pass through the defenders to the top of the box. Jun ran onto the pass and landed it in the net at first touch to draw level. (1:1)

They fought hard, but the persistent pressure on the goal in the second half conceded two goals to a corner kick followed by goalmouth scrambles and collisions in the box. (1:3) Although the girls lost the game with the scoreboard on static, they put in every effort to make it difficult for the Orcas.

“That was an extremely close game but we’re nothing but proud of the girls because they again played with such intensity and played really good football. They love the battle obviously, but it wasn’t the ideal outcome,” Coach Gall said.

Even though defeat at semis compromised their spot in the finals, the Jets still had a chance to make bronze. Fueled by determination, they matched up against Korean International School of Jeju (KISJ) Dragons for third place. Neither side gave an inch and responded to each attack with unrelenting defense. 

Captain Minori Kojima (9) played an instrumental role in protecting the net and deflected multiple shots toward the goal. Her solid defense reinforced the backline and maintained the 0-0 score until the match rolled into penalty kicks.

DIS defended first and Goalkeeper Kang handled the opening penalty. After a brief moment of hesitation, the shot flew towards the left corner. Kang stretched across the goal and pushed it away from the net to secure the early advantage. As Kang switched with KISJ goalie, Kojima stepped up as the Jets’ first penalty shooter. She made a solid shot to the left post and spared no time for the goalie to react.

However, KISJ ramped the score up to 1:1 when the second penalty rolled in just under Kang’s dive. Jun took the second penalty for the Jets but the ball rolled to the keeper’s feet for an easy save. Despite the earlier miss, Kang remained unfazed and covered the goal. The shooter fired the ball into the crossbar and rebounded away from the net.

Wang delivered the shot in the second round of penalties. While she attempted to lift the ball off the ground, it ran into the goalkeeper’s gloves and stopped short. With the score still level at the final round of alternating kicks, the shootout moved into sudden death.

The fourth penalty shooter faked the shot and sent the ball right. The low strike rolled toward the corner beyond Kang’s reach, but she reacted quickly and pulled off a spread save at the goal line to stave off elimination.

The penalty roster rotated back to Kojima. She gave nothing away before the shot and chose to aim for a risky spot. Kojima drilled the ball into the side netting and scored the winning goal. The match closed with a third place finish to wrap up the KISAC tournament.

Alongside the team’s podium finish, Kojima earned an all-star tournament selection for her leadership and performance throughout the competition. “As a captain, it’s my role to make sure that the team is together and everyone is heard. I’m satisfied with how I did that and feel honored to be the MVP. Still, a group effort got us 3rd place and we couldn’t have done it without all of our team members,” Captain Kojima said.

With valuable experience and a bronze finish to their first tourney of the season, the girls hope to take a win for the DMHS redemption match and aim to place at top of the podium for the South Korea Association of International Schools (SKAIS) conference on May 30.