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Last weekend, student-athletes from DAIS and DHS showcased their talent at two major tournaments - ACAMIS Soccer in Shenzhen and ACAMIS Badminton in Beijing. Competing with determination and skill, they returned home proudly with medals and trophies from both events.
From 17-19 April our Sea Dragons Varsity Soccer teams were competing in the ACAMIS Gold Division Soccer tournament hosted by ISNS in Shenzhen. The hot and humid conditions were a change from the current early spring conditions that we left behind in Dalian. Let's see how the Sea Dragons did:
The boys team endured a very tough first day of competition where they played 2 games, going down 4-0 to the eventual champions BSB Bears in their first game and despite a much improved performance against CISG Grizzlies conceded late goals to lose 4-1 with Zane notching what looked at the time to be an important equalizer.
There was still all to play for on Day 2, where a much improved and clinical performance saw a convincing victory against XIS Dolphins with Youssef, Zane, Ryan and Mason getting amongst the goals. We then played the hosts ISNS in our final pool game, with the winners of the game advancing automatically into the semi-finals. Despite dominating the early stages of the game ISNS Phoenix took the lead with a free-kick goal against the run of play. However, the Sea Dragons continued to probe and ask questions of the opposition before Biel scored a poachers goal to secure 1-1 draw and secure 3rd spot in the pool.
In the semi-finals we played the CISG Grizzlies, in what turned out to be a very close game. Early in the 2nd half Ryan scored an excellent free-kick to give the Sea Dragons the lead. Some excellent, committed defending from the Sea Dragons kept that lead while looking a threat on the counter-attack. Then agonizingly with 90 seconds left to play CISG scored an equalizer to take the game into extra time. Unfortunately CISG took the final spot with 2 goals in extra-time to win the game 3-1.
This left a 3rd place game to play against ISNS Phoenix. Despite being tired from their efforts in the previous game the Sea Dragons rose to secure 3rd place in tournament with goals from Ryan and Youssef securing a 2-0 victory. Congratulations to Toma and Harry for being nominated for the All-Star team.
The girls opened up against a good BSB Bears side. They showed incredible determination and resilience to restrict BSB Bears in the first half. Our Sea Dragons were a threat on the counter-attack and took the lead with a long-range free-kick from Zuri. However, BSB equalized and then scored a winning goal meaning the girls started out with a 2-1 defeat. There was an extremely strong performance against the CISG Grizzlies in the 2nd game of the day with the girls securing an excellent 5-0 victory, meaning that there was still everything to play for on day 2.
Day 2 opened with another excellent rearguard action against ISNS Phoenix (who had been tournament champions for the previous 2 years), and as with the BSB game on the previous day the solid platform allowed for DAIS to take a 1-0 lead going into half-time. Unfortunately, ISNS managed to score 2 second-half goals to secure a 2-1 victory for them. The games were beginning to take their toll on the girls who had to next play XIS Dolphins to see if they could secure automatic qualification for the semi-finals. In a very tightly contested game both sides played out a 0-0 draw, meaning Sea Dragons secured 3rd place in the pool.
Another brave performance in the semi-finals saw the girls lose 2-1 to eventual champions ISNS Phoenix meaning a play-off for 3rd place against XIS Dolphins. Like the game the day before the teams still could not be separated in normal time, and even after 10 minutes of extra time this teams could not be separated. This led to the drama of penalty kicks. In a fitting end to her ACAMIS career Zuri scored the decisive penalty-kick to secure 3rd place for the girls team.
Congratulations to Zuri and Rebecca for their nomination to the All-Star ACAMIS team.
Thank you to Mr. Stones, Mr. Xie, Mrs. Smith and Ms. Fakazile for their commitment to coach the U19 Soccer teams this season.
From April 17 to 19, our DAIS varsity badminton team took on the ACAMIS tournament at Keystone Academy in Beijing. It was an apprehensive start as we faced tough competition in the pool stages, but the team fought hard and began to settle into their rhythm by the second day.
In the knockout rounds, we went head-to-head with some highly experienced teams. After some outstanding performances and high emotions, our team battled their way to the final for the Plate division. In a nail-biting match that could have gone either way, we were narrowly edged out by just a few points.
We are incredibly proud to bring home the Silver Plate — marking the strongest performance our ACAMIS badminton team has ever achieved!
Well done, Sea Dragons — you've made DAIS proud!
Written by: Mr. Paul Robinson
Mr. Nick Wong
Photos: hosting schools
