ACS(BR) upset ACS(I) to emerge champions

WATER POLO

National ‘B’ Division
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) vs Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
Monday, 9th April 2007 at CCAB pool

Story by Coach Dick Yip. Pictures by Leslie Tan. Highlights of the final in episode 5 of RedSportsTV.

ACS(BR) tasted sweet victory this afternoon when they beat ACS(I) 7-5 after extra time. The victory was especially sweet as they had lost to ACS(I) 6-7 in the preliminary round. 

In front of a fully packed gallery, ACS(BR), the underdogs, triumphed over their more illustrious counterparts ACS(I) with 5 of their 7 goals coming from Rahul. When the match was tied 5-5 after the full 4 quarters ended, extra time of two 3-minute periods were played. It was Rahul who rose to the occasion to score a goal in each extra time period to put his school at the top of the water polo totem pole.

Here are the highlights of the game.

 
1st  quarter: ACS(BR) opened the scoring in the 1st minute with a goal by Rahul. Their rivals in white caps ACS(I) equalised within a minute to make it 1-1, the goal coming from no 12. Then, from the left, Rahul tried to lob over the goalkeeper but missed. Near the 4-minute mark, a long through pass by an ACS(I) defender to the right wing and then to the left, found no 7 who took a quick shot which went in. ACS(I) lead by 2-1.

ACS(BR)’s no 2 was fouled and hit a powerful shot which the alert ACS(I) goalkeeper stopped in the 5th minute. With a minute left, ACS(BR)’s no 2, Captain Gilbert Beh had the ball. He spied the goalkeeper coming off his line and lobbed the ball over and into the goal to equalise. 2-2. With seconds to go, ACS(I)’s no 4 and no 2 each had a golden chance at goal but good goalkeeping by Barker Road’s Shaun Lim kept both out.

2nd quarter:  With the score tied at 2-2, ACS(I) had the first possession after the swim off. The ball went to their no 12 who tried a backhand flick but missed. ACS(BR)’s no 12 Darrel let loose a powerful shot  that was saved by the goalkeeper. Play was tense and the referees blew for many fouls by both sides.

No 7 Jason Tan tried a backhand shot which was stopped by the ACS(I) goalkeeper. With 2:27 left on the clock, ACS(I) took the lead with the goal coming from no 12, making it 3-2.

ACS(I) then played a tighter man-to-man marking mode hoping to force their rivals into turnovers. But it turned out otherwise as they ran into foul trouble and ACS(BR) controlled the ball in the last minute.

It went to no 6 Aloysius Lum, who unleashed a hard shot at goal which the goalkeeper palmed off. The ball landed at Captain Gilbert’s hand and in an instant he took a shot which skimmed into goal for a score of 3-3.

3rd quarter: As in the previous two quarters, ACS(I) got to the ball first in the swim off. They pushed strongly into ACS(BR)’s half with their no 2 taking a potshot which hit the right post. Under intense pressure, the defenders committed a serious foul which led to the 1st penalty awarded to ACS(I)’s no 12.

He easily converted to help his team lead 4-3 overall, with just a minute of playing time elapsed. In response, ACS(BR) called for their 1st timeout.

After some terrible misses by both sides, Rahul was intentionally fouled way outside the 5 metre line. With the ball, he unleashed a sudden shot which caught the ACS(I) goalkeeper napping to equalise at 4-4.

With 3 minutes left, ACS(I)’s no 12 should have scored when he found himself just one metre from the goal but he could not convert the chance. Then ACS(BR)’s no 8, Ryan Tan, made a tremendous long range shot which was just saved by the goalkeeper’s fingertips.

Both sides had numerous scoring chances but the misses continued to pile up until the end of this period when Rahul again kept ACS(BR) in the lead 5-4 with an outstanding long-range shot.

ACS(I)’s no 4 was temporarily ejected after an offence and Rahul made another shot in the dying seconds which was unsuccessful before the horn sounded.

4th quarter: For the first time, ACS(BR) reached the ball first at the swim off. This last period saw an increase in tension and tempo from all players. Many fouls were committed and most goal attempts missed or were blocked off. With 2:38 secs left on the clock, ACS(I) equalised through no 2  to tie the score 5-5.

The action was frenetic. ACS(I)’s no 7 was ejected at 2:10. ACS(BR)’s Aloysius missed a close shot.

Then ACS(I) called their 1st timeout with 1:23 secs left.  Both sides knew that one major mistake or one brilliant move at this point would be enough to decide the match outcome.

Both sides concentrated on defence to prevent anyone from having a clear shot at goal. With 7 seconds left ACS(BR) called for their timeout.  The period ended with a 5-5 scoreline, thrusting the game into extra time.

Extra time: The game and match was single-handedly won by ACS(BR)’s top scorer Rahul with a goal in each extra period to lead his team and school to the 2007 National B title. The victory was extra sweet as the last occasion that their school held the title was 5 years ago.

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates, please let us know the names. We’ll update the captions. Also, we’ve made references to some players by numbers only. Please let us know your names and we’ll update the story. Thanks. More action shots in the Picture Gallery.