Ngee Ann Poly book spot in NUS-GE Water Polo Challenge final after edging NTU 11-10

Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

National University of Singapore Sports and Recreation Complex, Saturday, 16 January 2010 – Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) edged out Nanyang Technological University (NTU) 11-10 in a nail-biting semi-final match, setting up a showdown with defending champions National University of Singapore (NUS) in the final of the NUS-Great Eastern Water Polo Challenge.

NUS beat Nanyang Polytechnic 13-1 in the other semi-final.

NP got on the scoreboard first, courtesy of Raul Shankar Pandey after NTU’s Darras Ang was ejected from the game. Raul then set up the second goal for captain Jason Tan to place into the bottom of the goal, making it 2-0 to NP just two minutes into the game.

Not to be outdone, NTU answered with two goals to equalise 2-2. The first goal for NTU came when a shot from national player Kelvin Ong slipped through the fingers of NP keeper Shaun Lim. NTU scored their second goal when they intercepted an NP corner and hit them on the counter attack, with Dale Lai levelling the scores.

With a level playing field, NTU keeper Chan Zi An made reflex blocks a number of times to deny NP, but NP managed to sneak in another shot just 10 seconds after the equaliser when Timothy Cheng finished off a 1-2 with Tobias from the left flank.

NTU had a perfect opportunity to level the match again when they had a 2-on-1 situation in front of goal, but Kelvin Ong’s shot went wide. The first quarter ended 3-2 to NP.

The second quarter saw tighter defense and good blocks from the keepers. NP widened their lead after a series of passes among Timothy Cheng, Raul and Jonathan Quek, which was played into goal by Jonathan two minutes into the quarter. Raul hit the crossbar three minutes later but the rebound was caught by teammate Jonathan Quek who passed back to him. Raul made no mistake this time and placed NP 5-2 up.

However, NTU’s Lim Yaoxiang scored the third goal for his side after receiving a pass from Darras Ang from the right flank for NTU to enter the half time break 3-5 down to NP.

Once again, NP drew first blood in the third quarter, courtesy of Jonathan. He scored twice in the first five minutes to make it 7-3 to NP, giving them their biggest lead of the game.

NTU fought their way back to make sure NP did not have a walk in the park. Yaoxiang scored through a 5m penalty awarded to NTU while Bud Lim tapped in a pass from Lin Yimin to close the gap to 7-5.

Nonetheless, NP had the final say in the quarter when Foo Chuan Yu forayed down the left flank and sunk a low shot into the goal, ending the third quarter 8-5.

Emotions ran high in the last quarter as players got into foul play and penalties were awarded to both sides. Yaoxiang scored his second penalty for NTU after Raul was ejected 46 seconds into the game, closing the margin to 8-6 but Jason answered with a blazing shot past three NTU defenders to keep his side up 9-6.

Following that, NTU capitalised on a 6-on-5 situation when NP’s Chuan Yu got ejected, with Darras placing the ball at the back of the NP net. NP’s Shawn Lim was called for a foul two minutes later, allowing Yaoxiang to make bring the game to 9-8 through a penalty.

His teammate Kelvin Ong committed a foul shortly after though, giving NP their first penalty shot. Thadeus made no mistake, sending his side two points clear to 10-8.

NTU still kept coming. Yaoxiang scored his fifth goal of the game past NP defender Tobias Zhang in front of goal after receiving a pass from Darras, closing the margin to 10-9.

NP scored their winning goal through Chuan Yu after being awarded a hotly contested corner by the referee. The NTU players on the sidelines could not hold back their bewilderment as they challenged the decision for the corner, insisting that their keeper did not come into contact with the ball before it went out of play.

NTU fought back with a goal through Ang Song Loo thirty seconds from time, but it was too late as NP wrapped up the game 11-10 to set up a repeat of the final in 2009 against NUS.

“I felt this was our toughest game… But we should have won by a bigger margin,” said captain Jason Tan after the win. He pointed out that his side lost their 7-3 lead and that it could be due to the fatigue from the fast-paced game.

“Of course we were disappointed, we came quite close,” reflected NTU captain Lin Yimin after the one-point loss. He also expressed disappointment with the corner decision from the referee, but added that it was “beyond our control”.

“We have equal chances, they are equally good,” Jason spoke of NP’s upcoming final clash with NUS. The finals will be played out on Friday, 22 January 2010 at 4.30pm, at the National University of Singapore Sports and Recreation Complex.