Young Dragons on fire in Verona

More than 50 St George's Primary students competed in the Mediterranean Cup in Verona, Italy, from 20-23 March. St George's fielded four teams – two girls teams and two boys teams – in the international competition and for many students it was their first venture into competitive sport..

Somehow, both boys teams missed out on the Elite category after getting 12 points from a possible 15 on day one, which is incredibly unlucky. This meant they would compete in the Champions tier on day two.

The girls red team made it to the Elite group, which set them up for a tough Saturday, while the very inexperienced girls blue team finished their day strongly with a couple of draws, despite not scoring a goal. Captain Iris along with Billy and Layana were excellent performers.

Both red teams had a difficult Saturday with challenging groups and the points were few and far between, however Sofie and Kristy still earned themselves trophies for the skills challenge. The boys would playoff for 17th (out of 36 teams) and the girls for 7th (out of 17 teams) on Sunday.

The blue girls kept knocking on the door but somehow still didn’t score on Saturday. Aleksandra was awesome in goal and kept the team alive, as they went into Sunday in a playoff group for 15th.

The blue boys, led by captain Maximo (exemplary on and off the field) and Golden Boot contender Jayden, qualified for the final of the Champions tier, or 13th overall.

Finals Sunday was a mixed day for our red teams, as the girls won 3-0, with more goals from Madalena, who finished second-top goalscorer, behind the little sister of the world-famous Erling Haaland! The boys went down 3-1 to old rivals Geneva Lancy in a good game.

The blue boys conquered their final in comfortable fashion winning 3-0 and lifting the Champions trophy under the leadership of.. well… Mr Leader.

On Sunday, the blue girls pulled off two incredible performances back to back to win both games, with a goal from Matilda in the first and a double from Liliana in the next, as well as two clean sheets from Aleksandra, to win their mini group against ICS Milan and SLS Milan. Their coach cried with joy as the first goal went in and the girls went crazy, a really special moment for a group who came so far in just 48 hours. 

The children were an absolute credit to our school, completely buying in to the ethos of respect and friendship before competition, which we strive to embody in all our teams from Under 11 football up to Under 18 Volleyball. My colleagues and I were proud to wear the St George’s crest alongside our little Dragons for this trip.

– By Arron Lemon, Sports Coordinator

Team awards

Red Boys – Champions Silver, 3rd place

Blue Boys – Champions Gold Winners

Red Girls – Elite Silver 3rd place

Blue Girls – Champions Playoff Winners

 

Individual

Skills Challenge overall winner – Sofie 

Skills challenge overall runner up – Kristy 

Boys Golden Boot runner-up (whole competition) – Jayden 

Girls Best Goalkeeper of tournament (voted for by opposition and referees) – 1st place Isabella; runner-up Aleksandra M