George Mason University Korea’s (GMUK) soccer team won first place in the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) Soccer League scoring 30:0 throughout the tournament. The team had five matches with Ghent University and State University of New York (SUNY). GMUK had a total of three qualifiers which were against Ghent-team B, SUNY-team B, and C. GMUK scored 9:0 the first game, which was on October 23, 2019 without losing a single point against Ghent-B. After the qualifiers, the team went up to the semifinal against Ghent-team A. In the final game, which was on November 13th, GMUK recorded 3:0 winning against SUNY-team A.
The GMUK team practiced every Wednesdays at 9 PM at the IGC gymnasium. A few days before the tournament, they also had individual practices on weekends. According to Wonjun Lee, the team captain, the team faced difficulties in working as a squad at the beginning of games. It was based on ‘individuals’ skills’ rather than ‘team effort’. To overcome this weak point, the captain told the team to focus on the team performance rather than just focusing on scoring goals individually, “I convinced them to do so because I knew that they can pull it off and perform much better than my expectation as ‘a team’, not as ‘a player’. So that’s why I think we were able to win all the matches consistently as a team and make new records.”
Winning a single game without conceding a single goal is a conundrum. The GMUK soccer team knew they were dominating the league when they went to the semifinal. However, the first place was possible because they focused on the team performance of every match rather than the score itself. Wonjun Lee asks the GMUK community to give more attention to the sports events of our school: “In the GMUK community, there are many events and things happening around but it’s more like ‘You do yours, I’ll do mine’. I understand that many students are busy doing assignments and works, but engaging in school events can make stronger bonding with the school community and people. That’s where you can feel one of the important essences of university life.”
Written by Jieon Kum|Staff Writer
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