ACJC seal third with win over Raffles in A Division girls’ hockey

Story and pictures by REDintern Yvonne Yap

Delta Sports Complex, Wednesday, May 20, 2009 – Anglo-Chinese Junior College beat Raffles Institution 3-2 in the A Division Girls' Hockey Championship to claim third place.

Both teams had a huge turnout of supporters, which raised the atmosphere at Delta Sports Complex to a fevered high.

Raffles were dominating in the first half, creating a number of opportunities for themselves. A good build up in the 9th minute saw RI forwards Lee Xiang Ying (RI #9) and Daphne Alexandria Lai (RI #10) stroking it to and fro in the D, making the AC defenders open up to create an opening for a shot. However, the ball failed to hit the target.

Soon after, Raffles were awarded a short corner which was passed to Audrey Shih (RI #7) on the edge of the D. She calmly slotted the ball past the AC keeper without any challenge, making it 1-0 to RI.

ACJC equalised 15 minutes after from a counter-attack. Rahmuna (AC #2) managed to steal a pass from an RI free hit and passed it to Pui Sheen (AC #15), who was waiting in the RI half. She managed to shake off two defenders to make it 1-1 after the keeper failed to save the shot.

Raffles replied with another goal five minutes later, just as the first half was ending. Ugenie (RI #17) passed the ball to Chen Li Hua (RI #6) who was unmarked. Li Hua got the ball past the keeper within the D, and tapped it in, giving RI a 2-1 half-time lead.

After the break, there was a clear shift in dominance. ACJC, probably revitalised from the break, took more possession of the ball and Jeslyn Tan (AC #18) received a pass in the 40th minutes to slot the ball into the goal with a dive within the D to make it 2-2.

RI had a chance to put themselves ahead again 15 minutes later when Adalia Ong (RI #21) went into the 23m area and passed it to Ang Qiu Ping (RI #8) at the corner of the goal. However, the AC keeper was quick to react and ran out to put the ball out of play.

The winning goal came just five minutes from full time when a short corner was awarded to ACJC. Jennifer Yeo (AC #14) received a pass and took a shot at goal but it failed to go in at first. Jeslyn dived to reach the ball and tapped it into the goal for a 3-2 ACJC lead, their first in the game. It eventually turned out to be the winning goal.