Forty-degree weather and an early Sunday morning start didn’t keep a band of Sleeper Hall residents from giving their all as they romped over Team Thirty-Four, finishing with a 9-4 win in the first annual Boston University World Cup championship game held at Nickerson Field.
The tournament, sponsored by the BU International Students Consortium, began with 16 teams on March 21 and ended on Sunday.
Surrounded by smiling teammates, Team Sleeper captain Kurt Huerta, a Metropolitan College freshman, ceremoniously kissed the Cup trophy and held it high above his head in victory as spectators cheered during the awards ceremony following the game.
The third place team, International House of Soccer, featured players from Mexico, Iceland, France, Sweden, China, Argentina and the United States. College of Arts and Sciences junior Fjolnir Finnbogason, the team’s captain and an Iceland native, recalled a memorable game in which an opponent fractured the toe of International House of Soccer’s Swedish representative. Their team took third place by default when their challengers, the Arabian Knights, failed to show up.
“The BU international community is actually pretty tight,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Gustavo Soltelo, a Mexico native and International House of Soccer member.
School of Management senior Ying Ying Tan, the president of the International Students Consortium, said there was an overwhelming response to the event from the start. Many teams in the BU World Cup also participated in the intramural soccer tournament earlier this year. The games were refereed by players from the varsity soccer team.
The World Cup was the final event of the year for the group, which Tan said began four years ago with friends looking to create a meeting ground for domestic and international students on campus. She said she hopes the World Cup will become a BU tradition.
“Now [international students] have a legit reason to hang out every weekend,” Tan said.
She added that the group is open to anyone on campus, though many members hail from countries around the world.
The paramount event for the International Student Consortium was the International Students Ball, which attracted more than 460 students, according to Tan. The ISC has around 400 members on average, she said.
Theodore Chadwick, a finance professor in SMG, looked on from the sidelines as his daughter, CAS freshman Whitney Chadwick, played for Team Sleeper in the final.
“She really loves this,” he said.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore presented the trophy to Team Sleeper in the awards ceremony and medals were given to the first, second and third place finishers.
“I’m really impressed how they organized the whole thing,” Director of International Admissions and ISC advisor Paul Greene said. “I think it’s amazing.”
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