Playing with strong emotions and a desire to win made the difference between winning and losing for the Greek Originals on Saturday in the International Student Council Soccer Tournament Championship game.

The 20th annual ISC soccer tournament ended in a first-place victory for Greek Original over Latin America by a 7-1 score. Third place went to U.S. Victory after Palestine Africa forfeited the game by not showing up to play.

Chris Christophorides, captain of the Greek Original team and a senior in marketing from Cyprus, was happy with his team’s performance.

Advertisement

We played better then we thought we would, he said. The players played with their hearts.

The Greek Original team brought home the victory of the ISC World Cup for the second year in a row in the tournament, marking the first time a team has won the tournament consecutively.

Ten teams competed for the ISC Soccer Cup in the seven-week tournament. The season started off with two weeks of friendly games and then the competition began.

Greek Original was ahead by two points in the first half of the game. But during the second half, the team was able to surge further ahead to gain five more points, giving them a winning game.

Ramon Cwu, captain of the Latin America team and a senior in electrical engineering from Honduras, said that despite the loss, he was still pleased with the team’s performance.

It was a good game and everything went smoothly, he said. We did our best. Maybe next year.

Wan Kamal Wan Napi, president of ISC and a graduate student in political science from Malaysia, said what winning the cup means a lot to those who compete.

Advertisement*

To compete is a big deal, he said. Whoever is the champion will be remembered for all time.

The ISC soccer tournament is the biggest event of the year for international students, Wan Napi said.

ISC’s object is to bring people together and to promote a better understanding (of each other), he said.

Despite the stinging cold, fans and players cheered on their teams.

The stands at Stehr Field remained full of banging drums, waving flags and about 50 screaming fans until victory met with the Greek Original.

Sandros Eugeniou, a junior in marketing from Cyprus and Greek Original supporter, was enthusiastic about his team’s win.

I already knew that we were going to win, he said. It felt like the finals were just practice for us.

Christophorides said the fans assisted the team in winning the championship.

The fans supported us until the end, he said. We dedicate the trophy to the fans and hope that we can get the trophy again next year.

Cwu said he was impressed that his team was able to make it to the finals.

We didn’t even have a team at the beginning of the season, he said. We were a team from scratch who made it to the finals; it says a lot.