By REDintern Farah Alsagoff

Raffles Junior College Indoor Sports Hall, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 – National Junior College showed the benefit of greater experience in their 6-1 win over first-timers Anglo-Chinese Junior College.

Despite their newcomer status, ACJC were clearly determined not to be seen as pushovers as they began the match with full court pressure, with their forwards keeping close to the NJC defenders to foil their play-ups.

An opportunity came early in the first period when Charis (ACJC #18)made a pass to Samantha (ACJC #7) who was in front of the goal, unmarked. However, she was unable to convert it into a goal.

Shortly after, a dribble up along the sideboards by the Matilda (NJC #3) saw her attempt a wraparound shot but the ACJC keeper fast enough to stop her shot. However, Matilda went in for a rebound to put a backhand shot past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

Barely 2 minutes later, a shot by an NJC player was fumbled by the ACJC keeper and the ball rolled in for the second NJC goal.

NJC were awarded a free hit towards the end of the first period and Sheryl (NJC, #73) scored a spectacular volley to make it 3-0.

ACJC almost scored when Charis made a pass from behind the goal post to Samantha but her shot went wide.

In the 33rd minute, ACJC received a 2-minute bench penalty for an improper substitution. NJC rolled out their power play but their shots were either blocked by the ACJC keeper or were off-target.

However, within a minute of the power play, Li Ying (NJC #28) found teammate Abigail (NJC #36) with a pass across the court and all it took was a simple grounder to make it 4-0.

All this while, ACJC remain unfazed and kept pressuring NJC at full court and ran for loose balls whenever possible.

In the 47th minute, the efforts of Matilda finally paid off when she tapped in the fifth goal for her team between the ACJC keeper's legs.

ACJC finally scored a goal to show for their hard work. Charis blocked a centre pass while pressuring. The ball bounced up and she took a swift volley which sent the ball into the bottom right corner for her team’s first goal. The team was in euphoria as they celebrated their first goal in a floorball competition.

The ACJC keeper saved a certain goal in the 53rd minute when she caught a shot just before the goal line just as the NJC players were about to celebrate.

But there was no stopping NJC as they finally wrapped up the game with a well-planned free-hit when Matilda passed to teammate #21 who took a hard shot and placed the ball into the goal for a 6-1 victory.

ACJC fought relentlessly, and showed good sportsmanship and commendable spirit as newcomers in an entertaining and hard-fought match.

N.B. If you know the names of the players mentioned by jersey numbers, please let us know in the comments section. We’ll update the post. Thanks.