Osan makes it two title trifectas, Zama's girls lead parade of Class AA championship firsts: What we learned on Far East Day 4.0

Posted May 21st, 2009 by Dave Ornauer

Pacific Sportsblog

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer hopes there's some first-class seats on the KTX bound for Seoul in the morning:

-- It couldn't be done, people insisted. No way could Osan -- or any other loser's bracket team -- survive a 5:30 a.m. wakeup, 7 a.m. start to the first of four matches, then win all four of those matches to stanch Matthew C. Perry's bid for a school-first Far East Girls Class A Soccer Tournament title.

-- But that's exactly what Osan American did. Behind a seven-goal performance by Bria Pressley, the Cougars eliminated Morrison Christian Academy 3-1 and Daegu American 5-2 before taking down the Samurai in a two-match final, 4-0 and 4-1.

-- I'll be the first to admit -- I wrote off the Cougars after they lost to Perry in the winner's bracket on Tuesday. Shows what I know.

-- That makes a record five Class A titles for Osan, the first since 2006 and helps the Cougars match the 2001-02 version that also won Far East titles in volleyball, basketball and soccer in the same school year. Marvelous stuff.

-- Anybody notice that after each of those three titles, Osan earned exactly no MVP awards? And just one specialty award in volleyball or soccer? Still, life's all good for the Cougars -- they earned the big enchiladas in each of those sports.

-- Speaking of multiple champions, Yongsan International-Seoul made it back-to-back Boys Class A titles and in the same runaway fashion as last year. Jon Park, Daniel Cho and David Kim each scored twice as the Guardians clipped the Robert D. Edgren Eagles' wings 8-0.

-- This was an Eagles team that almost matched Osan's girls four-match marathon bid. Brandon Massie also almost matched Pressley's goal output -- he had five despite operating on a sore Achilles' tendon.

-- Hey, Zama! Hey, Zama! Hey, Zama! Welcome to title match land! The Trojans' girls reached the Girls Class AA final for the first time in school history, blanking Faith Academy 3-0 in the first of two semifinals. Zama battles host Kubasaki at 3 p.m. Friday for the crown.

-- A Zama title would be its first in a team sport since sharing the Far East wrestling crown with St. Mary's International in 1982. The Trojans' last outright title? 1963, in boys basketball.

-- In the Boys Class AA final, for the first time, no DODDS and no Okinawa teams to be found. Christian Academy In Japan and Hong Kong International hold that honour, at 3 p.m. Friday at Seoul American. CAJ is going for its third title in five years, Hong Kong its first. Zama and Kubasaki play for third place at 1 p.m.

-- Weather outlook: Fair in Seoul, mid-day showers on Okinawa.

One more day to go.

Osan American

On May 21st, 2009 cebudiver says:

My hat is off to the Lady Cougars. I have never seen a team achieve so much in a 10 hour time span. First, at 7am, they beat Morrison 3-1. After an hour and a half, they came up against Daegu. They went up 3-0 at halftime and the Lady Warriors fought hard to get 2 scores to make it 3-2. Just when we had the momentum again, in a one point game with 15 min to go, an outstanding athletic effert bt the Pressley sisters resulted in another Osan goal and quickly turned the games momentum back to Osan. Still puuring it on, Osan scored a final goal to make it 5-2. Another hour and a half break and they came back again, still in the pouring rain, to take on MC Perry, the team that had beaten them 2 days ago and beat them 4-0. Another hour and a half in the sauna and they came back in the "IF" game to beat them again 4-1 to take the championship. What an amazing display of stamina, determination and athleticism that will never be forgotten, at least not by this coach.
I give to you my standing ovation.

Class A Girls Far East

On May 21st, 2009 cebudiver says:

I would like to say that every team in the tournament represented their school well, both on and off the pitch. This fantastic group of players and coaches made this the most enjoyable tournament I have attended. There was not a team out there that did not deserve a sportsmanship award. Morrison actually won the award, given by the tournament officials. You stand out even in this company ... practice those PK's for next year :) . I would also like to say that the officials did an excellent job of calling the games. They so seldom get to hear that and I want to thank them for a job well done. A special thanks to the Sacred Heart coach and to the MC Perry coach and team for making the all star game so much fun. They brought the party to Daegu, and kept it going even after their loss in the finals. That is a sign of true sportsmanship. I look forward to seeing all 9 schools back again next year and to those small schools that were not there... you missed a great tournament.

congratulations to the lady

On May 23rd, 2009 majoryellowcard says:

congratulations to the lady cougars! Mixed feelings from me, but I definitely know the cougars were the best this year. Good rivalry, good competition, alot of tight matches despite the scores. - next year, with the top three small schools losing alot of key players, it will be quite even again across the board and will make another enjoyable nailbiter season.
This should quiet a bunch of the naysayers from the past couple years the DODSS small schools cant compete against International schools.
Here's to next year's soccer season! Let the countdown begin,....

Countdown

On May 23rd, 2009 Dave Ornauer says:

282 days. :)

Congrats Osan Cougars

On May 24th, 2009 USA_vball_coach says:

The trifecta once again...Congratulations. Three championships in the three major sports and no MVPs...strange indeed. The common denominator in all three is Celine Baldevia...can anyone say AOTY? Well Done Cougars...

MVP's

On May 25th, 2009 cebudiver says:

Bria had the 2nd highest point total and the voting took place before the 2 perry games ... she didnt play in the morrison game and scored once vs Daegu... she turned it on for the last 2 games.... after the voting....maybe that would have made a difference... as good an athlete as Celine is, especially in Volleyball, she wasnt even nominated for soccer ... the Osan victory was a (superhuman IMO) team effort with an emphasis on the Pressley sisters.
Why does the most valuable PLAYER have to be from the championship TEAM ? How many rings does Lebron James have?
Karla Stroud was awesome as forward and keeper but the entire Osan team was on fire on Thursday.

champions and mvp's

On May 25th, 2009 cebudiver says:

only 1 of the past 6 NBA MVPs came from the championship team. Kobe in 08
..strange indeed..granted,the cav's are still in the running this year

Champions

On May 26th, 2009 Survivor says:

Let’s cut to the chase...Karla is an outstanding athlete...no one is questioning that. The problem wasn't with the voting it was with the process. Voting before the Championship game(S) was a huge mistake. In future Far East tournaments let’s not let that happen again. The 2009 format was set up to give both the MVP and Best Offensive Player to the leading voter getter by the coaches. Coaches made their selections based on the performance of the players up until that point. (Another mistake) To give both the MVP and Best Offensive player to Karla who ended up with 11 goals as opposed to Bria who had 15 was a disservice to the Osan team. I’m not even a proponent that just because you are the leading scorer you deserve to be an MVP. However, no matter how you slice the awards, Osan came out short. As cebudiver said it was a total team effort from Osan.

So, let’s base the selection of the all tournament team on that analogy. The Osan team “Should have been rewarded” Here is my solution which quite frankly is stolen from JP Rader and SFS who has pulled the strings for KAIAC for 2 decades now. This process elimates the drama and assures the best performers get selected.

? Each team is awarded “All Tournaments” selections based on where they finished in the tournament—In other words the first place team is rewarded for their first place finish with a sloted number of selections and so forth down the line to the last place finishing team

? The head coach of his or her team selects his or her players. My expectation is each coach knows who is best performing for his team

? Selections are made after the tournament is completed (That will eliminate Osan teams of the future being shut out from any specialty awards

Lastly, let’s get some facts straight. Bria played the whole tournament. It was her sister Jasmine who sat out 3 games. Celine led both the Osan basketball and volleyball teams to the Far East championships. She was a good player but not the most outstanding for Osan in soccer. I think her resume will stand up to any player in the Far East for Athlete of the Year.

facts are facts

On May 27th, 2009 cebudiver says:

KAIAC gives a set number based on placing ... most FE Tournaments go with the coaches voting on the players, regardless of placement.
Getting the facts straight.... Bria sat out the Morrison game ... she was sitting on the bench inside the pavillion and I walked up and asked why she wasnt playing ... she said something about stomach problems... she was in the Daegu game and scored once ... she was spectacular in the last 2 games... I handed her the game ball after Osan picked up the awards ... however, the voting format was published weeks before the tournament ... maybe the vote should be at the end, but that wasnt my decision and there were valid reasons to get it done earlier.
Last year, Daegu got 2 all tournament as the 2nd place team... Morrison got 1 as the 3rd and Osan got 3 as the 4th... Perry got 2 after being eliminated first round... the all tournament players were all deserving, but the numbers did not reflect how their team placed... funny how there were no complaints from Osan last year when they benefited from that format ... and did you hear me griping on the Blog?
The coaches from the girls KAIAC tournament this year unanimously recommended to modify how they distributed awards at KAIAC ... with less weight given to the championship team

favorites

On May 27th, 2009 cebudiver says:

... coaches have their favorites... it may cloud their judgement ...
one tournament (KAIAC) uses team alottments by place ( 8,6,4,2,1,1,1,1 and coach choice who gets them ) and the other (FE)uses the opposing coaches nominations and votes

All Tournament

On May 27th, 2009 Survivor says:

Cebudiver,

No spears intended headed your way from me. I was merely pointing out that there is another way to pick all-tournament selections that in my 10 years of coaching and observing KAIAC and Far East is a more equitable way of selecting deserving players. I wasn’t originally too thrilled either seeing SFS running away with so many boys and girls all-tournament selections year after year. But the hard facts are they had the best players and they like most Championship teams deserve more player selections. The Far East tournament award criteria is not well defined and over the years and it has almost been solely at the whim of that particular tournament director. I have seen the specialty awards differ wildly in the past from tournament to tournament. Ms Chandler and yourself did an outstanding job hosting this year’s tournament and in no way did I intend to diminish your guy’s efforts.

However, I will ask you to please check with either the Osan coach or Dave Ornauer and you will find Bria did play against Morrison. She did sit out a period of time in the first half. Also, SFS did not have 8 all-tournament members for the girls KAIAC. I believe they had six from an 8 team pool. I will also argue your analogy that REGULAR SEASON MVPs for pro-league somehow equates to Far East “TOURNAMENT MVPS. Those are apples and oranges. The pro-leagues also make Play-off MVP selections which by the way are not made before the Championship game.

KAIAC awards

On May 28th, 2009 cebudiver says:

Stars and Stripes April 27th scoreboard SFS's 8 selections, Osan's 6 , TCIS 4 , SAHS 2 etc... Daegu got the at large selection to give them 2 instead of 1
Also notice the tournament MVP is NOT from SFS, the championship team
Even the SFS coach commented that he had too many selections in the meeting... thus the reccomendation to reduce the # of all tourn and distribute them more evenly ie..5,4,3,2,2,2,2,2
I personally like the FE all tournament format we used this year... last year had no transparency at all... we wrote names on a piece of paper and were presented with the selectees ... I believe the selection should be standardized, but along a coaches vote format and not each coach pick their favorites - the ideal would be to have the 15 best players from the tournament to represent us if we were to send them elsewhere to compete - a low ranking team may or may not have the top players ... strong individual players and team depth are 2 different things .. one awarded by team placement (with individual medals for top 3 teams) and one awarded by all tournament ... the MVP recieving the most points and the other 3 by show of hands at the coaches meeting in this tournament. Usually, the better teams will have more all tournament. In the case of Osan last year, they recieved 3 choices as the 4th place team... thet lost to us in the semi's in a PK shootout and then lost their drive and let Morrison beat them in the 3/4 game . Should their top players be penalized for that with a quota system in addition to not placing well? Did that make them less talented all tournament long? I personally think we deserved at least 3 choices last year , but I guess the other coaches didn't see it that way. BTW I voted for Bria for athlete of the qtr. in the blog poll. She sat out almost all of the first half... I had to set up the Henry field for the consolations and missed some of the 2nd half..but I did not see her on the field and I was looking, as we were playing Osan next...
... Glad you enjoyed the tournament... sorry you didnt like how we did the awards, ... it will be the same next year but I will lobby for the voting to take place after the championship game...

Awards (cut from the pages of S & S April 27th Scoreboard)
Most Valuable Player-Nina Aaltonen, Taejon Christian International.
Best Offensive Player-Brittney Rader, Seoul Foreign.
Best Defensive Player-Ernie Song, Taejon Christian International.
Best Goalkeeper-Liz Gleaves, Seoul American.
Coach of the Year-Tiece Adams, Taejon Christian International.
Team Sportsmanship Award-Taejon Christian International.
All-Tournament Team-Karen Lee, Iana Petrova, Ariel Rhoda, Sandra Lee, Rachel Wolochatiuk, Leah Chung, Hanna Helm, Claire Park, Seoul Foreign; Celine Baldevia, Angela Frisby, Sofia Hemmer, Alina Hauter, Bria Pressley, Jasmine Pressley, Osan American; Andrea Lee, Esther Kim, Jessica Yoon, Nina Aaltonen, Taejon Christian International; Alicia Furner, Sarah Schade, Seoul American; Kristina Bergman, Agnes Choi, Daegu American; Elaine Lee, Korea International; Amy Jung, Seoul International; Taylor Trent, Yongsan International-Seoul.

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