Another bridesmaid finish for CIS

FOR the second straight year, the Cebu International School stumbled in the International Schools Athletic Conference Girls' football finals to finish second in the eight team event over the weekend at Brent Baguio.

CIS, which lost to Brent Subic via shoot-out in last year's finals, lost 0-2 to Brent Manila last Sunday to finish second in the event. The runner-up finish also boosted CIS to third place in the over-all rankings of Isac. Brent Manila got the over-all trophy award for the second straight year after sharing the top prize with CIS last year.

Newcomer Mindanao Christian Academy, which took the boys basketball crown over Southville IS, 46-45, finished second over-all.

"Girls basketball is what pulled us down in the rankings because we finished last. We weren't able to practice much for girls basketball because the kids were busy with a school play," said CIS athletic director Brian Bedford.

The CIS girls, coached by Dexter Arrojado and Jessica Aspillaga, found themselves down a goal early after the wily Kaori Kondo eluded the defense in the first half to get past keeper Danica Ronquillo.



Hobbled by injuries and playing with only two substitutes, CIS played catch-up for the rest of the match however Brent keeper Regina Fong kept the goal clear.


CIS had their best chance with a free kick from Monica Moraza but her shot sailed high.

Five minutes into the second half, things got worse for CIS as it lost trusty defender Gabi Aboitiz, who got one of the two best defender awards in the meet, to an injury.

Seeing their chance, Kondo found an open Mariah Bloom five minutes later and the Brent striker banged the ball past Ronquillo to put the game beyond doubt.

Captain Gabi Mercado tried to rally the team back but Brent Manila's sweeper Georgia Guidecelle, was a steady presence in the defensive end as she checked strikers Merilee Watson and Presley Cunningham to preserve the shut-out.

Despite the runner-up finish, Bedford is satisfied with both the runner-up finish and their over-all rankings.

"We only started with 13 girls and we had two new ones," he said.

Bedford said that despite having only 180 high school students compared to Brent Manila's 1000, they were able to perform well in the Isac meet, with most of their players playing two or more sports.

"The core group is phenomenal. Their stamina and dedication to the practice. This is the third year we have with the seasons, if we stick to it, in 10 years we could be the team to beat in all sports," he said.

Isac opens with the volleyball games in October, the boys' football and girls' basketball in February and the boys' basketball and girls' football late March.