St. Theresa’s Convent beat Seng Kang on penalties to clinch girls’ C Division Hockey Championship

Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Photos by Marvin Lowe and Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

Sengkang Sports and Recreational Centre, Wednesday, August 12, 2009 – CHIJ St. Theresa’s Convent beat Seng Kang Secondary 2-1 on penalties to bring home the girls’ C Division Hockey Championship title. The game finished 0-0 after extra-time.

The first half was quite evenly matched with players taking awhile to get into the rhythm of the game, with both sides missing passes and shots.

Seng Kang were awarded a short corner in the dying minutes of the first half but a deft pass by the Seng Kang #15 to team mate #11 saw a shot that was saved by the CHIJ STC keeper.

The heat from the sun soon took its toll on the players as a number of girls from both sides fell during the second half due to exhaustion and cramps.

The Farah Hani (STC #4), the main playmaker for her team, took a shot in the 40th minute but it went off a Seng Kang defender. She made another pass to teammate Nicole Sarah (STC #30) who went all the way into the D but she was eventually closed down by the defenders.

With the stalemate, the game went into extra time. CHIJ STC created shots during the short corners, but they failed to put the ball at the back of the net while Seng Kang put up a stout resistance in defence and tried to string together a comeback even though their girls started showing signs of fatigue.

Unable to score, both teams went into penalties to decide the eventual winner.

Farah started off the penalties with a splendid flick to the top of the net, bagging the first goal for CHIJ STC. Seng Kang Captain Nur Fazyani then missed her shot, sending the supporters into silence as they pinned their hopes on the next few players.

Ivy Chan (STC #20) and Seng Kang #10 both scored their goals, making it 2-1 to CHIJ STC.

The remaining players from both CHIJ STC and Seng Kang missed their remaining three shots and the title went to CHIJ STC.

Seng Kang’s coach Priscilla Koh revealed that it was the first time her team was playing in the stadium, even though the school is located in the vicinity.

“Coming into the finals was a bonus… We tried to play and improve each game,” she said of her team’s run in the Championship.

“The fact that they kept pushing on despite the heat was good,” Coach Priscilla reflected on the Seng Kang girls team’s attitude in the game. The team only started training a couple of months back.

“They played well. Still capable of doing better,” CHIJ STC’s Coach Raphael P.A. commented on their play. He remarked that the girls were tense and that could have affected their performance in the match.

CHIJ STC’s teacher in charge, Mr Francis, was extremely proud of his team’s performance. “St Theresa’s has always had a strong hockey heritage. We spent alot of time and effort building up this team and our focus has always been to get into the finals. This is our first C Division title in ten years, so this means a lot to the STC community as well.”