Derek Entwistle and Kamran Baig - Coaches
On Thursday, the girls' soccer team traveled up to Yokohama for the Dragons Cup Tournament. Participating schools included Yokohama International School, Seoul International School, The German School of Tokyo and ourselves. Games were played at the Yokohama Country Club under sunny blue skies. Each team had to play two full games of 40 minute halves each day and there were some tired and sun burned girls by the tournament's end! The Saber girls toiled magnificently against often bigger opponents. Aided by the silky smooth skills of Haruka Yogi, the tireless running and tackling of our midfield, some cracking goals by the forwards and topped off by some tough defending saw us enter the final undefeated. Our opponents were Yokohama International School who had gone 24 games without a loss and were brimming with confidence. In front of a vocal and boisterous home crowd the game was played at a hard and fast pace with no mercy shown and some great passages of play. The Sabers (without the "golden" boots of Saki Nawata who was injured in the previous game) fought hard right to the final whistle with the best team proving ultimately triumphant. Unfortunately it was not us! 3 to 2 was perhaps a fair result and it was with cautious optimism we left Yokohama dreaming of next year's tournament.
Special commendations to Sam Syrad, Emily Taura and Haruka Yogi who were voted onto the all-star team.
Congratulations and thank you to all the 2009 team members and I look forward to next year.
