George School Varsity Math Team
George School Varsity Math Team adds win to its final tally

The George School Varsity Math Team has wrapped up a winning fall season by winning the Philly Independent Schools Varsity Tournament.

Seven George School Varsity Math Team members played in the Varsity Tournament. These were world-class right-back Wilson Chen '23 (C), world-class left-back Linglong Dai '23, world-class center-mid/goalie MC Gu '24, world-class striker Forest Ho-Chen '22 (C), world-class goalie Ian Hopkins '22, world-class forward/midfielder Jason Liu '22, and world-class forward Yuki Wang '23. All seven of these players were on the FSL all-league teams, along with world-class left midfielder Jimmy Ding '23 and world-class right midfielder Jackson Yang '25.

The Varsity Tournament took place on Thursday, December 9th at Episcopal Academy. Along with George School (Ranked 1st) and Episcopal (Ranked 4th), Shipley (3), Haverford (2), Agnes Irwin (7), Penn Charter (6), and Westtown (5) participated. Episcopal fielded two teams.

There were four rounds of team competition. "We won every match at the tournament, including beating Westtown twice. Shipley's team was very strong, but in the finals, George School prevailed to win the championship," said Forest Ho-Chen '22 (captain for the first two matches. Wilson Chen '23 was captain for the last two matches).

The tournament was structured into a three-round bracket and a "warm-up" match. Each round was 20 minutes long, and there were six questions. In the first and third rounds, the teams played collaboratively in two teams, while in the second and fourth rounds, the teams played as individuals with the top 5 scores counting, similar to the normal Varsity Math leagues. The rankings of the teams would be determined by the results of the bracket (hint: use binary), but as of right now, the rankings of all teams have not been announced.

Apparent Rankings:

1. George School

2. Shipley

3. Haverford

4. Westtown

5. Episcopal A

6. Penn Charter

7. Agnes Irwin

8. Episcopal B

GSVMT's first matchup was a "warm-up" match against their rival, Westtown. In this match, George School collaboratively played strongly in two teams, getting a perfect score relatively quickly due to quick thinking from Yuki Wang '23 and MC Gu '24. Westtown would get a perfect score, but it was after George School did, meaning that George School won 6-6 on time.

Against Episcopal B, the teams played as individuals. Although George School was a player down, taking inspiration from the Boys Varsity Soccer team's 10-3 win over Perkiomen, they were able to score many points and won the match 20-11. This put George School against Westtown again, who had just beaten Episcopal A.

In the rematch against Westtown, George School once again played in two teams. Once again, George School quickly got a perfect score, meaning that they advanced to the finals with a 6-5 win. This was the third time that the George School Varsity Math Team had beaten Westtown this season.

In the finals, GSVMT faced their second rival, Shipley, who had just come off of wins against Penn Charter and Haverford. Shipley is GSVMT's second rival because of a very controversial match in 2019, followed by a miracle 30-20 win for George School this year. George School quickly got a 7-1 lead and started to score many more points, eventually getting the score to 17-10. Although Shipley got some points near the end, it was not enough, and the final score was 18-13 George School, meaning that GSVMT had won the tournament.

The Varsity Math Team thinks that younger students or newcomers might want to get involved in the Philly League and the varsity math team in general. "It's never too late to join us. You might find that you really like what we do, but you won't know if you don't try," said Forest Ho-Chen '22.

These George School Clubs and Teams supported the George School Varsity Math Team during the Varsity Tournament:

Astronomy Club

Biochemistry Club

Chess Club

CrypNTo

GS Math and Beyond Club

MATES

Robotics Club

Boys Varsity Soccer

Varsity Cross Country

Varsity Football

Boys JV Soccer