SECTION B VISIT SAMOA NEWS ONLINE @ SAMOANEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018 CLASSIFIEDS • CARTOONS • ALOHA BRIEFS & MORE ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ASHSAA Girls 2018 Soccer C M Y K season kicks off By Brian Vitolio — FFAS 5, 2018 at Pago Park Soccer MEDIA Stadium. The Faga’itua Vikings’ var- The junior varsity (JV) game sity squad is a force to reckon that was supposed to have taken with thanks to a 4-1 win over the Maraea Nautu of Leone (left ) shields the ball from Faga’itua’s Tulima Mauga during a 2017-18 place between the two schools Leone Lions as the ASHSAA ASHSAA Girls varsity soccer game on Monday, Feb. 5, 2018 at Pago Park Soccer Stadium. ended in a double forfeit, as [FFAS MEDIA/Brian Vitolio] Girls 2017-18 soccer season both teams failed to complete kicked off on Monday, Feb. DOE Athletics’ requirements for coaches and players. Despite the score, Faga’itua had a hard time scoring in the fi rst half against the Lions. They kept the pressure on but could not score until the fi nal three minutes of the half. Tulima Mauga blasted a shot from inside the penalty area to fi nally break the 0-0 score into a 1-0, Vikings lead. Benefi tting from having three youth internationals on their varsity team, Faga’itua took over in the second half with Princess Fegauia’i scoring a hat trick to put the game out of reach. Fegauia’i, Mauga and goal- keeper Rayxena Fomai rep- resented American Samoa at the OFC Women’s U-16 tour- nament in Samoa last year, and their experience helped Faga’itua dominate the game against Leone. Two of Fegauia’i’s goals were penalty kicks in the second half. Rosie Faleao scored a conso- lation goal for Leone late in the game on a PK to complete the game’s fi nal tally, 4-1. ASHSAA GIRLS 2017-18 SOCCER SEASON SCHEDULE C M There are seven schools com- Y K peting in the varsity division — the Vikings, Lions, defending champions Tafuna Warriors, South Pacifi c Academy Dol- phins, Samoana Sharks and the Fa’asao-Marist Cougars. In the J-V division, there are fi ve schools participating — defending champions Fa’asao- Marist, the Lions, Sharks, Vikings and Warriors. All games will be played at Pago Park Soccer Stadium and the competition consists of a double round-robin, followed by a top three postseason for the varsity division only. The team that completes the com- petition with the best record in the J-V bracket will be crowned champions. Page B2 samoa news, Thursday, February 8, 2018 (Photos: Leua) FILE - Th is 2015, fi le photo provided by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong, left , during their visit to a military unit in North Korea. South Korea’s Unifi cation Ministry said North Korea informed Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, that Kim Yo Jong would be part of the high-level delegation coming to the South for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. Th e content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verifi ed. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) Sister of North Korean leader to come to South for Olympics VSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North It’s unclear whether any member of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, an increas- Korean government delegation will hold talks ingly prominent fi gure in the country’s leader- with U.S. offi cials during the Olympics. ship, will be part of the North’s delegation to the Pence did not rule out a possible meeting with South Korean Winter Olympics, offi cials said North Korean offi cials, telling reporters, “we’ll Wednesday. see what happens.” But he pledged that his mes- Kim Yo Jong, believed to be around 30, will sage in any potential interaction would include be the fi rst member of North Korea’s ruling the same message he has been delivering pub- family to visit South Korea since the end of the licly: that the North must renounce its nuclear 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts say her inclusion weapon and missile programs. in the Olympic delegation shows North Korea’s Hong, the analyst, said Kim Yo Jong’s pres- ambition to use the Olympics to break out from ence would give North Korea a better opportu- diplomatic isolation by improving relations with nity to win South Korean help in reaching out to the South, which it could use as a bridge for the United States. He also said Washington may approaching the United States. see Kim Yo Jong as an avenue to deliver mes- South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s offi ce sages to Kim Jong Un. welcomed North Korea’s decision, saying it “With any other North Korean offi cial, even showed the North’s willingness to cooperate the so-called No. 2 Choe Ryong Hae, you are get- in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. It ting a person who’s just parroting orders given wasn’t immediately clear whether Kim Yo Jong by Kim Jong Un,” Hong said. “But with Kim will meet with Moon, a liberal who has expressed Yo Jong, you are getting a person who’s chiefl y a desire to reach out to the North. involved in designing Kim Jong Un’s rule, a While South Korea prepared to welcome Kim person whom the leader actually listens to.” Yo Jong, Vice President Mike Pence said in North Korea said the delegation will also Japan that the U.S. is preparing to announce the include Choe Hwi, chairman of the country’s “toughest and most aggressive” economic sanc- National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri tions against North Korea, boosting pressure on Son Gwon, chairman of the North’s agency that its government during the Olympics. U.S. offi - deals with inter-Korean affairs. cials declined to provide details of the expected Kim Yo Jong and Kim Jong Un were born to sanctions. the same mother, Ko Yong Hui. They had a half Experts said by sending a youthful, photo- brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered last genic person who will undoubtedly attract inter- year at a Malaysian airport. national attention during the games, North Korea Kim Yo Jong was promoted by her brother is trying to construct a fresher and warmer public last year to be an alternate member of the deci- image and defuse potential U.S. efforts to use the sion-making political bureau of the ruling party’s Olympics to highlight the North’s brutal human central committee, which analysts said showed rights record. that her activities are more substantive than pre- Kim Jong Un might also have seen that viously thought. U.S. President Donald Trump was sending his The war-separated Koreas are cooperating daughter, Ivanka, to the Olympics closing cere- on a series of conciliatory measures during the mony and decided to match the move by sending Olympics, which the South sees as an opportu- his sister, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s nity to ease tensions with the North following Korea Institute for National Unifi cation. an extended period of animosity over its nuclear By sending a relative, “Kim Jong Un may be weapon and missile programs. Skeptics think trying to present himself as an equal to Donald North Korea is trying to use the Olympics to Trump,” Hong said. weaken U.S.-led sanctions and pressure against Kim Yo Jong will be part of a North Korean it and buy time to advance its weapons programs. delegation led by the country’s nominal head of North Korea has 22 athletes competing in the state, Kim Yong Nam. Winter Olympics but also has sent performing Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s artists and a large cheering group. Dongguk University, said Kim Yo Jong, as Kim A decision by North Korea to send the artists Jong Un’s relative and apparently one of the few by sea has triggered debate in the South, where people who has earned his absolute trust, carries conservatives see the move as a clear indication more weight as a dialogue partner for the South the North is trying to use the Olympics to ease than any other offi cial the North could send. sanctions against it. samoa news, Thursday, February 8, 2018 Page B3 Lions hope coach Matt Patricia Fordham erases ends their search for winner 17-point gap, beats George Mason 67-66 NEW YORK (AP) — it at 58 and retook the lead at Prokop Slanina scored 17 61-60 with 4:22 left. Fordham points, Ivan Raut added 16 and took the lead for good on the Fordham overcame a 17-point next possession with Cavit defi cit to beat George Mason Havsa’s layup. 67-66 on Wednesday night. George Mason scored 21 Joseph Chartouny’s jumper straight in the fi rst half to lead with 2:37 left capped Fordham’s 25-8 and led again by 17 at scoring and made it 67-62. 33-16 late in the fi rst period. George Mason scored a pair of Fordham made 10 3s in the baskets in the fi nal two minutes second half to help close the but missed two attempts to go gap. ahead in the fi nal 14 seconds. Will Tavares had 11 points Raut hit back-to-back and 11 rebounds and Chartouny 3-pointers to give the Rams added 11 points for the Rams.