ACS(I) retain C Division Water Polo title with victory over Hwa Chong Institution

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

CCAB, Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - Anglo Chinese School (Independent) successfully defended their C Division Water Polo Championship title with a convincing 10-4 victory over Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) in a repeat of last year’s result.

Defending champions ACS(I) took an early lead and never let go, giving HCI no chance to for an upset. Although they only held a one goal lead at the half, ACS(I) dominated the second half to seal the championship.

Captain Sean Ang (#12) and Ang Wan Leong (#9) lead their team with a combined seven goals with top-scorer Wan Leong grabbing three in the fourth quarter alone.

For HCI, they will have to wait another year for another shot at the title after they fell 5-10 in the final last year to ACS(I).

Last year, it was HCI who took the lead before ACS(I) stormed back, but this time, it was ACS(I) that took the game to HCI with a goal midway through the first quarter. With ACS(I) getting a six-on-five advantage, a weak shot from distance was not dealt with by the HCI defense and Brendan Teo was on hand to punish them.

Dexter Kuah (HCI #7) thought he had leveled the scores at the end of the first, but his goal was disallowed as the buzzer had already gone, to leave ACS(I) leading 1-0.

With their team settled, ACS(I) turned up their defense in the second quarter. Constant and aggressive pressure by the ACS(I) defenders did not give HCI any clear shots at goal and at times forced HCI into turnovers. Not only that, HCI also wasted a couple of great six-on-five opportunities.

At the other end, ACS(I) captain Sean Ang managed to double his side's lead with over a minute left on the clock in the first half. However, Lim Wen Ben (HCI #9) finally found the back of the net to pull one back to trail 1-2 and set the stage for an exciting second half.

One would think that goal would spark a HCI comeback, but Ang Wan Leong of ACS(I) quashed any chance of that with a goal in the opening 38 seconds. With HCI pushing men forward in search of an early goal, they left holes at the back which Wan Leong exploited, ending a counter attack with a goal to give his side a 3-1 lead.

Sean Ang did further damage in the third quarter as he scored two goals to stun HCI and complete his hat-trick while Bradley Windley (#8) added another. HCI only managed to reply with a solitary Reynold Toh (HCI #5) goal to make the score 6-2 heading into the final quarter.

Much of the same followed in the fourth quarter. Although Lim Wen Ben put in an early goal for HCI, there was no stopping ACS(I) as Ang Wan Leong dominated the quarter, scoring another three more goals to put the game beyond HCI. Dexter Kuah got a consolation for HCI as the game ended 10-4.

"It was tough in the first two quarters as we were a bit nervous," said ACS(I) captain Sean Ang after the match. "But after that, we got it together. We wanted to press them tight and put an aggressive defense on them."

"We were training all year for this match and I am very happy as we were able to beat them (HCI) by one more goal than we did last year," added Sean.