Chelsea Soccer School FC tops LPK Cup

The Chelsea Soccer School HK Women’s Team from Hong Kong won the 2024 LPK Cup championship held at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville last Thursday.

An awards banquet was held at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan after six round-robin matches that were played between the tourney’s four clubs.

The awards banquet and the tourney was attended by former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, dignitaries, NMIFA clubs and members, family and friends of the players, and football fans

The cup featured the Northern Marianas Football Association Women’s Team, Tuloy FC Women’s Team from the Philippines, Shonan Bellmare FC U15 Girls Team from Japan, and the Chelsea Soccer School HK Women’s Team.

Chelsea won the championship due to winning all games against the three teams in a round-robin format. They had a 3-0-0 win-draw-loss standing, while Shonan Bellmare was second at 2-0-1; NMIFA was at 1-0-2; and Tuloy had a 0-0-3 record.

Chelsea first beat the NMIFA Women’s Team, 1-0; then defeated Shonan Bellmare 1-0; and wrapped up the tourney with their third win after they blanked Tuloy, 1-0.

The Hong Kong-based football club was made up of Tsz Shan Chan, Hei Man Yiu, Kiu Ting Wong, Wing Lam Chan, Hong Kiu Leung, Shuk Fan Wong, Kan Yu Lam, Tsz Yiu Wong, Raisalam Yan Yue Ma, Ching Long So, Yuen Ki Ng, Lai Mae Tsan, Ka Man Wong, Choi Yiu Wu, Yee Hing Chan, Pak Ling Ko, Chit Ho, Ka Iyan Chak, Chakshun Iya, and Yuet Ching Man.

In the other games, the NMIFA Women’s Team snagged a 1-0 win over Tuloy in dramatic fashion as Jannah Casarino scored in the 23rd minute of the 25-minute game.

Casarino said in an interview after her game winning goal, “It was pretty good. I’ve been waiting for that opportunity. We had a training match against them, and I didn’t get the chance to show my ability. But I’m glad now, in front of everybody, I got to show them how my team can play and how hard we worked together.”

About the football clubs coming over to play in the NMI against them, she said, “It’s a great opportunity for us to play against them. We usually don’t get the chance to play against other women’s teams. We usually just play against U15 boys, so I think it’s a good challenge to play against other women. I just thank them for coming out and helping us with our three nation’s cup.”

The first match of the tourney was between Shonan Bellmare and Tuloy, with Bellmare taking the win, 2-0.

The cup was in memory of NMIFA and Tan Holdings Corp. president and CEO Jerry Tan’s mother, Lam Pak Kim, who passed away at the age of 95 three weeks ago in Hong Kong.

In the awards ceremony, remarks were made by Tan, Macapagal-Arroyo, Shonan Bellmare FC president Kiyoshi Makabe, and Tuloy Foundation chair Raymond Tan.