During the 2018 KAIST- POSTECH Science War (KPSW), POSTECH succeeds to defeat KAIST in basketball but fails to win the two games: baseball and soccer.

 

Competitive Match Ending in Regretful Loss
As the opening game of the KPSW, the soccer game was held. After a game that went into overtime, our university was defeated by a score of 1 to 2. Because of the downpour, the condition of the field and the overall situation was not good. 

It was KAIST that scored the first goal. About 10 minutes into the game, the ball passed through the goalkeeper after a free kick.

About 5 minutes after that, a free kick chance was given to our team as well, and Han Gi-jung (PHYS 17) made the most of it. With that goal, the score was tied.

After that, both teams traded attacks back and forth having several chances to score, but nothing hit the net. Neither team was able to reverse the score again before the end of regulation game time. The game went to overtime and in the second half, just when everybody thought the game would go to a penalty shoot-out, a goal was made by KAIST. In what seemed to be the last minutes of the game, a cross followed by a header just narrowly slipped past the keeper’s hand.

As stated by Lee Dong-hyeon (ME 15), captain of the POSTECH soccer team, the plan was to defend against KAIST’s playstyle of long passes and set the tempo for themselves with greater teamwork and stamina gained through hard training during the summer vacation.

The plays of the goalkeeper, Moon Hye-sung (MATH) was exceptionally brilliant, stopping several shots that would have tipped the scale to KAIST’s side. The ground was all soggy, and they could not show 100% of skills. Few of our players got hurt, reducing our team’s overall capabilities. 

Despite the loss, our team did the best they could. We should not only say thanks to the players that actually ran on the field but for the players that trained with the fellow entrees and cheered them on just as if they were on the field themselves.

 

A leading baseall game turned into a heart searing reversal
On Sep. 15, the second day of the KPSW started with a baseball game. Unfortunately, POSTECH had to add another defeat to the record of consecutive loss in baseball since 2015. However, the game itself showed that baseball club Tachyons had eagerly prepared for this match.

The game started with team POSTECH playing defense with pitches of the starting pitcher Lee Jin-hyun (MSE 17). It was team KAIST that scored first, scoring two runs without hits in the first inning. In the second inning, team POSTECH managed to score a point in a first and third situation. While the pitcher made a pickoff attempt at the first base runner, the runner at third managed to score a run by stealing the home plate. In the third inning, by taking advantage of the opponent’s pitching errors, team POSTECH scored five runs in total making a big inning. The atmosphere changed as team POSTECH turned the tables making the scores 6 to 2. In the fourth inning, team KAIST did manage to chase team POSTECH by two points but team POSTECH managed to escape the opponent’s pursuit thanks to the spectacular jump catch made by Cho Sung-ho (IME 17). However, in the sixth inning, the pitchers of team POSTECH had a hard time controlling the game and ended up giving team KAIST five points. The batters of team POSTECH tried their best until the end but team KAIST managed to defend their last defense and the game ended with a score of 7 to 9.

After the heart-breaking game, The Postech Times interviewed the student director of baseball club Tachyons, Choi Hyung-tae (MATH 15). He revealed they worked hard on batting, saying “Since I believe batting is the most important, Tachyons mainly focused on batting during the training. I believe that it’s easier for a team with the ability to score to improve than a team with a high defense succeed rate.” 

Key strategy was for player Lee Jin-Hyun (MSE 17) to start off as the starting pitcher and hold off the KAIST’s offence as long as possible while our hitters score up to 10, leading the game completely in our pace. Asked about improvements during the match, he said, “Even though we lost the game, we developed tremendously in mentality through this chance. The shock of loss will be aid in the development of even stronger willpower that will lead the team to success next year.”

Crucial factors for the loss were mostly due to the mistakes made during base running. The flow of offence was halted and additional scores were not achieved. Player exchange in the sixth inning did not go so well too. Even though the game ended with a disappointment, the effort and the amazing achievements made by Tachyons will not be forgotten and will be appraised.

 

First Victory for POSTECH!
As the second sports event on the second day of KPSW, basketball game was held at POSTECH gymnasium at 3 o’clock. After the game was turned around several times, POSTECH took its first victory against KAIST in basketball with the score of 44 to 34.

In the interview with Choi In-hoo, the captain of the basketball team, he revealed the strategy that turned out to be game changer. During the training camp, while the team has been focusing on stamina for the past years, this year they focused on individual skills. There was a significant improvement in the players’ skills that contributed to the whole team’s strength. One of the obstacles was the climate: the basketball court was slippery due to monsoon. There was no significant injury during the camp, but the team captain and interviewee had a cartilage injury near his ribs a week before the game. Because of the injury, he could not participate as one of the key players, but luckily it turned out well when Suh Won-jun, Choi In-hoo’s substitute, scored six points in the first quarter, leading the team.

He also expressed gratitude to professor Kim Dong-hyun who is in charge of the POSTECH basketball team. He noted that the Prof. Kim has contributed to the team with affection even though he was very busy with work. He was quick to catch player’s strength and weakness and proficient at amplifying our players’ strengths while finding ways to hampering KAIST players’ strengths. Guards of Team KAIST have such a high shooting accuracy and their main weapon are three-pointers. The team captain has correctly predicted that POSTECH’s main focus will be pressing-defense with strategies such as half-court press and cutting off aces from the beginning.

After the victory, Choi In-hoo said that after losing to KAIST last year, he felt pressure to win this year and he is elated to have won. He commented that the strategy in which they completely block off two KAIST aces worked really well.