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Meridian Junior College claw their way back to a floorball win over Victoria JC

Story by REDintern Christy. Pictures by REDintern Zhijia.

VJC captain Wong Hon Gregory Dennis scorer of the first goal.VJC 1 : MJC 0 (Photo 1 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

National Inter-School A Division Boys Floorball Championship: Semi-finals, Tampines Sports Complex, Monday, July 21, 2008 – Meridian Junior College (MJC) pulled off a stunning scoring raid with two goals in the last thirty seconds to secure a place on in the final. Victoria Junior College (VJC) played a mean and aggressive game which effectively riled up the MJC players and messed up their usually neat formations. MJC, not used to such a playing style, were at a disadvantage, with VJC leading for the majority of the game. This was the first time MJC had such a hard time winning a match this season but ultimately they held on and triumphed 4-3.

Spurred on by the large number of supporters, VJC’s energy was at an all-time high. VJC Captain Dennis Wong (#19) gave VJC a head start by scoring with a brilliant free-hit that flew straight into goal to huge cheers. Despite numerous tries by MJC to find an equalizer, the VJC goalkeeper Amos Nadan (#21) and defense thwarted MJC splendidly to ensure that the first period ended 1-0 in VJC’s favour.

Of course, having earned this lead, VJC were not going to relinquish it so easily. A rare penalty was given in the second period to provide MJC an opportunity to equalize. A hush of silence swept across the court as Glendon Phua (#20), MJC captain stepped up to take the penalty. Despite the fact that Glendon Phua was MJC’s scoring machine, the VJC goalkeeper Amos Nadan (#21) was unfazed and remained calm and collected. The mind games had started. As MJC Glendon Phua (#20) inched nearer to the goal, the VJC goalkeeper bellowed a “HEY YOU!” (or at least that was what I heard) and shook the nerves of Glendon Phua, resulting in a penalty miss. This penalty save gave VJC another morale boost and at the 07:31min mark, Derrick Tay (#18) of VJC widened the lead by scoring a goal after a melee in front of the penalty box. VJC were now 2-0 up.

It was a tough time for MJC as they have been in the lead for most of their games. Still, it was impressive to see how strong MJC were, not just physically, but also mentally. Despite the deficit, MJC ploughed on to find a chance to equalize. VJC’s hostile style of play soon came back to haunt them. A VJ player was sent out for 2 minutes which allowed MJC a power play chance. MJC took advantage of the opportunity and an own goal by VJC gave MJC their first goal of the game to make it 1-2.

Motivated by the goal, MJC searched relentlessly for a chance to equalize. That chance came at 13:15 when MJC captain Glendon Phua volleyed such a hard and fast shot that it bounced off the VJC keeper’s body and into the net. At the end of the second period, the score was now two-all.

VJC started strong at the beginning of the third period with VJC Jonathon Tan (#9) smacking in a unstoppable goal that eluded the usually vigilant MJC keeper Lionel Boey (#30) to make it a 3-2 VJC lead. Again in this period, MJC had two power play chances due to repeated offenses by the VJC players. MJC failed to take advantage of the first chance they had but they made up for it with their second chance.

With less than two minutes left on the clock, MJC embarked on a power play and gave teammate Toh Zuan Ming (#9) chances to score. The MJC team worked hard to send assisted passes not just once, nor twice or even thrice for him to score. Unfortunately for them, it was all near-misses. Nonetheless, the MJC team did not lose faith in him and gave him a fourth chance and this time round he did not disappoint as he whacked the ball into goal with precision. 3-3.

Just when everyone thought that the game would go into extra-time, MJC captain Glendon Phua (#20) snatched the ball in the face-off and breathtakingly sent the ball flying into the net with deadly flair at the very last second.

It was the most thrilling match all season with emotions flaring up and the referees’ whistles going off every few seconds due to the high number of fouls committed. Kudos go to VJC for managing to lead most of the game and firing three goals into MJC net, given the fact that before this match, MJC had only let in a total of three goals for the season. Still, the most impressive part of the match was the “never give up” mentality of the MJC players. Before this match, we have only seen them as leaders, but after this match, we will not just see them as leaders but also, fighters.

Victoria Junior College will meet Yishun Junior College tomorrow, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at Tampines Sports Complex for the 3rd and 4th placing clash at 1530hrs and Meridian Junior College will meet Raffles Junior College on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at Tampines Sports Complex for the final at 1530hrs.

Penalty. MJC captain Glendon Phua takes on VJC goalkeeper Amos Nadan. (Photo 2 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

VJC players mob goalkeeper Amos Nadan after he managed to prevent Glendon Phua (MJC,#20) from scoring. VJC 1 : MJC 0 (Photo 3 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

Harold Lim (MJC,#14) with an opportunity to score. (Photo 4 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

VJC players celebrate after Jonathan Heng (VJC,#13) put them in front for the second time in the match. VJC 3 : MJC 2 (Photo 5 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

MJC players celebrate after Toh Zuan Ming (MJC,#9) equalised. VJC 3 : MJC 3 (Photo 6 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

Glendon Phua (MJC,#20) scores the final goal to complete the MJC comeback. (Photo 7 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

Law Zhenyuan (MJC,#15) and Lionel Boey (MJC#30) celebrate after the final whistle. Final score: VJC 3: MJC 4 (Photo 8 © Teo Zhijia/Red Sports)

Comments

70 Responses to “Meridian Junior College claw their way back to a floorball win over Victoria JC”

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1. 40
   christy Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 pm

   oh gosh, bet it was exciting! six degrees, thats another close match – I bet the VJCians were still tired today having played so fiercely yesterday…

   Ah, I do agree that shouting does not exactly demonstrate sportsmanship but sometimes I guess its sportsmanship vs winning. Sometimes the desire to win is so strong that sportsmanship becomes second fiddle. Although his sportsmanship may have been lacking, I will have to say it was brilliant of him for thinking up this scare tactic in such an intense moment.

   Nonetheless, of course the best teams are those which have won and played with sportsmanship.

2. 39
   slxdegrees Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm

   oops. realised there were a couple of polls. was referring to the straits times one. lol. =)

3. 38
   slxdegrees Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm

   lol @ the poll.

   2 choices? now that doesn’t make a lot of sense when the qn is something with only 1 absolute answer.

4. 37
   Dennis Wong Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 pm

   ah well ill be glad to try,

   yj took the early lead going up 2-0, we then equalised to bring it to 2-2 before yj scored two more making it 4-2. the game was then equalised yet again to bring it back to 4-4. However yj managed to grab a late goal to win 5-4.

   it was closely fought with good plays on both sides.

   the most surprising thing however was that the refrees chosen were 2 secondary school players who just got their coaching license. it was as though this match was used for practice?

5. 36
   slxdegrees Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

   today’s 3rd-4th placing match went in favour of yjc by a score of 5-4. no idea who the scorers were, got that score from the yjc floorball blog.

6. 35
   slxdegrees Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 pm

   @passerby
   zzz. shouting is unsporting play. you definitely don’t see that in soccer too often, as a matter of fact, in the last few penalty shootouts i have seen, no keeper has shouted. most juz wave their arms around. so yeah, if you think it’s ok to shout, you might want to rethink that.

   and btw, playing fast and aggressive is a really good strategy against good technical teams, if you have got the stamina to maintain that throughout the match. if not, such a strategy can be counterproductive towards the end of the match when fatigue and foul calls set in, as proven here.

7. 34
   christy Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:19 pm

   Okay. I am going to make a plea out – any kind souls that watched the YJC vs VJC match today out there? I didn’t have the luxury of time to go down. =( So I will appreciate it if someone send in a match report – and I will promptly post it up. Or simply just update the rest of us on how the match went – both girls and guys. Maybe dennis you can update the rest of us here? =)

   haha viewer, its okay – I will take the non-constructive comments as amusement and the constructive ones to learn about floorball.

   thank you ajani – I totally understand how is it like to miss an exciting match – wonder how today matches went.

   ahh passerby, I guess its pretty impossible for the referees to be consistent – there are different referees for different matches. And they have different ways of thinking. I am no expert on floorball rules, so I will leave it for some expert to step in to explain the inconsistencies. All I can say about the VJC keeper is probably the referees for this match did not notice that fact.

   To in awe: I agree that it was a magnificent goal but we will see whether any goal can surpass it tomorrow, alright? =)

8. 33
   supporter Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:09 pm

   had watched the match, read the article and comments. i thought that vj might have displayed their best performance in the entire competition so far. they had the burning desire to win and had been explosive throughout the match.

   mj had played in vj’s half for most parts of the game but vj were quick on the counterattacks. and if you take a neutral stand, you could see that vjc players were going in for the mj players whenever they held the ball. there were pushes (deliberate or not) and slashes.

   however, this is floorball and pushing and slashing are just part of the game. the refs protected players on both sides and blew as constantly as fouls were committed. the many 2-mins penalty on the vj side were definitely justified as fouls were committed by the same player several times and there were also some blatant pushing and tripping.

   nonetheless, a great game. mj shld be commended for not giving up on their game and providing us with an excellent match to behold.

9. 32
   In awe Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm

   MJC’s last goal should be the goal of the tournament !!!!

10. 31
    Dennis Wong Says:
    July 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    oh yes, but nevertheless, i admit some of my teammates were clumsy and rough that day in committing fouls, and i in no way dispute those decisions.

    And also, congratulations to MJ for never giving up and producing a shock comeback. All the best for tmr’s finals

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