Story by REDintern Rachel Lim. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Republic Polytechnic Sports Complex, Friday, July 11, 2008 – The battle between Victoria Junior College and National JC continued right after Innova JC beat Temasek JC. The National A Division girls floorball game sure started off with much enthusiasm. From the start, nice and strong balls were shot with no mercy. However of course, there were better defense and good catches that denied the goals. Together with the excitement level of the match, the voices of the crowd went on and on till the end where NJC finally triumphed 7-3.
Two minutes into the game, VJC increased the the crowd’s volume when they scored straight into the top corner of the goalpost. Hugs of joy between the players conveyed the strong bond within the team. Such strong chemistry was also evident as at any point of time, VJC would be in formation.
There were many moments of brilliance in the entire game and significant good saves by the NJC goalkeeper #13, and beautiful catches by the VJC goalkeeper. More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin. More than much determination were shown throughout. It was seen that nothing mattered much more than the match as even when NJC #19 tripped by accident, she simply picked herself up and continue bravely with the match.
After much visual commotion, there came another goal by VJC at the 10th minute. Every player was running across the court and firing shots after shots at their respective attacking goals. However, despite these strong shots, most of the shots went above the nets. Neither team was able to convert their chances into goals. Good defending by the goalkeepers using their shins also prevented scoring opportunities.
The second period saw NJC start with extra zeal. True enough, within the first minute, a sudden and sharp shot gave NJC a goal. This was the turning point of the match. The players had been trying hard and were rewarded. It must definitely been comforting to finally score one for the team. However, the score at this particular point of time increased the stakes between the two teams.
It was an awesome sight to see the girls striving to fight for their best. Moreover, both goalkeepers were giving on extra alert to look out for any incoming shots. In the last three minutes of the second period, NJC #99 was awarded a penalty. The crowd fell silent as all eyes were on her. She slowly guided the ball from centre court towards the goalkeeper. Tension was high as she neared the goal. The VJC goalkeeper was already down on her knees and tried to interfere with NJC #99’s approach. With a quick flick of the stick, the ball found its way into the net. Goal! Score, 3-2. At this point, the VJC crowd was cheering on their team with, “Fight on VJ, fight on!” Yet the NJ team was undaunted. At the last minute, the proudly scored another goal.
In the third period, VJC #4 also received a penalty for a chance to score a goal. She unfortunately missed the chance. Exciting game, it was, to have the rare penalty occuring again. With six minutes to go, another goal was brilliantly scored by NJC. To them, it seemed that optimism was the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other. It was really pleasing to watch the comeback in the game.
After desperate trials and errors, VJC finally managed to score their third goal, their last tiny bliss. The lop-sided score did not fear the VJC girls as fought on hard, their shots all good and going. Nevertheless, the equally matched defense put up by the NJC team prevented more goals. NJC ended the game with their 7th goal, eliciting cheers from their supporters. Well done, girls!
More pictures in the gallery.
Editors note: If you recognise yourself or your team mates in any of the photos, feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
Bleh, what is all this rivalry between schools I see here? 🙂
Hello MJC, it’s not like I did not thank uncle les and the redsports crew ya. Anyway, you girls play hard in your upcoming semis and we might just meet in the finals. 😉
Hi MJC,
Thank you for your kind words.
I don’t mind explaining to people about how this site works. If they are here for the first time, they won’t know.
In this instance, floorballer was engaging us in good faith and so it’s alright by me.
This site is only one and a half years old and so many people are still new to how we work.
It’s saddening evry single time someone complains beacause his/her school sports were not covered and the redsports crew would have to explain their inability to be omnipresent. Maybe one too many times repeated, they are a user generated, voluntary site without any funding and they have a limited number of journalists and reporters. PLEASE! be appreciative of their hardwork and passion for sports in the local scene and quit whining jus cos u or ur school wasn’t featured. Put yourselves in their shoes would u give a heck abt some other ppl playing a sport which means the world to them but its jus considered as another CCA to u? They are giving their time and energy to churn out whatever they can and so far they have been impressive.
All the crap abt being credibility is probably another excuse for ur urge to be featured but ur unwillingness to take the time and effort to come up with an article or pictures. There were many other articles which were submitted by readers and in their perspectives of their sport which redsport gladly published without question anyone is free to tell the story from their benches but the question is are u willing to do it?
Well for me i admit i would find it rather cumbersome to come up with a full report together with pictures of even my own game much less others’. Thats why i appreciate and enjoy reading evry single article no matter which covered instituition which the reporters diligently produced. I would gladly give up my article space to u jus to fuel ur hunger to be featured and feed ur ego… In the meantime, i express my the utmost respect and gratitude to every single redsport reporter and uncle les for the hard work, time, money invested in Singapore school sports and salute ur undying passion 🙂