U14 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

GIRLS

The U14 Girls’ Football team took part in the annual City Championships on Thursday 28^th February. With six other schools participating, the competition proved fierce. BIS faced some strong sides in the group stages. Their first game saw them take on ABC International School. The girls put in a solid team performance. Excellent goal keeping and defensive play from Mimi Dey and Anna Huynh kept them a clean sheet and a fantastic strike from Maya Schmitt in the second half gave them a 1-0 win. CIS were their next opponents, and with a very tight defence BIS struggled to break through on goal. The game finished in a draw, 0-0. BIS were hungry for another win to improve their chances of finishing top of the group to compete for the title. They faced Singapore International School in the final group match and with BIS playing heavy on the attack from the start, a quick break from Singapore saw them concede an early goal. Determined not to let the trophy slip away from them BIS came back stronger and more  determined than ever. With some tactical changes and motivational words led by captain, Deeva Gupta in defence, a long range strike from Maya Schmitt soon followed to give us the equaliser. With confidence on the up, four more goals came in quick succession. Final score: 5-1. BIS finished top of the group and were ready to take on the        convincing winners of Group A: ISHCMC. With the trophy in site the whole team displayed a fantastic performance. Once again, strong in defence Anna Huynh and goalkeeper Mimi Dey kept us in the game with some crucial tackles and saves. Neither team were able to break down the strong defensive play and at full time the score remained 0-0. This took the final into five minutes of extra time, and with BIS eager to avoid a penalty shoot-out, a more assertive performance followed. Maya Subba was eventually able to break through to slot the ball past the goal keeper and won the game 1-0.

A fantastic team effort throughout and a well-deserved win for the BIS girls.

The U13 girls squad took part in the U14 City championships as preparation for their forthcoming trip to the U13 FOBISSEA Games held in Brunei. Although the competition was strong, the squad showed excellent defensive  skills - Toni Perez, Estelle De Santis, Sarah Ryan and Nina Riehle worked well in different combinations to limit the goals conceded to just 3 in 4 games. Goal keepers Lhasa Pereyra Nguyen and Beatriz Vila Ariza showed bravery in goal to block numerous shots, as well as turning their hand to defensive positions throughout the tournament. There was some promising play in the middle of the park; Ally McBain, Gemma-Rose Nevin and Mia Simmons linking up to provide constant pressure to the opposition defence, drawing on their previous FOBISSEA experiences with each other. Katrin Kalaw also made a successful debut on the football pitch and made some crucial tackles in front of goal. The stand out moment came from Nina Riehle, with a thunder bolt strike to open the goal tally. Mia Simmons doubled the score to 2-0 in the final game to take the team into a respectable finishing position of 7^th. Well done girls!

BOYS

A blistering hot day saw BIS face some tough competition in the U14 Football City Championships. A hard fought     2-2 draw against AmIS and a narrow 2-1 defeat to SSIS (the overall winners), meant that BIS narrowly missed out on the play-offs. The result was hard to swallow and the boys certainly deserved to go further in the tournament.    Tremendous character was shown throughout however and a 12-1 win in their final game was a testament of the teams character and true ability.