Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Pictures by Tan Jon Han/Red Sports.
VJC’s captain Melissa Gan (#11, yellow) scoring one of her two goals in VJC’s 6-0 win over HCI (red). (Photo 1 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall, Monday, May 10, 2010 – Last year’s runners-up Victoria Junior College (VJC) continued their undefeated run in the A Division Girls’ Floorball Championship with an emphatic 6-0 win over Hwa Chong Institution (HCI).
With the victory, they book their spot in the last four as winners of Group B with 13 points from five matches and will face River Valley High School, who narrowly lost 4-3 to Meridian Junior College in Group A, in the semi-finals. Raffles Institution, who drew with Victoria Junior College in an earlier match, will play against defending champions Meridian Junior College in the other semi-final.
HCI managed to hold off VJC in the opening goings as the runners-up sought for an early goal. There were a couple of nervous moments in front of the HCI goal, but the score was still level after eight minutes.
It was only with six minutes and five seconds left in the first period that VJC finally took the lead. Off a free hit, VJC’s Nur Harilyn’s (#13) shot found the back of the net with the help of a deflection, giving VJC a 1-0 lead.
VJC also had other efforts from Gracia Sengutuvan (#10) and Annabel Lim (#8) kept out before HCI had a brilliant opportunity to level the scores. Tabitha Ang (HCI #3) found herself through on goal with a few minutes left in the first period, but her shot was straight at the VJC goalkeeper.
Instead, it was VJC who doubled their lead before the interval with captain Melissa Gan (#11) dribbling past a couple of defenders before slamming it home past the goalkeeper.
Much of the same followed in the second period with VJC continuing to pressure HCI’s goal. Melissa had a chance to double her tally, but her shot was saved by the outstretched leg of the HCI keeper.
VJC were not about to be denied a few minutes later, however, when Jennie Ong (#22) sent a cleanly-struck shot into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead. Things then got worse for HCI when Chou Yun put the ball into her own net with two minutes and 51 seconds remaining before VJC captain Melissa Gan added another with five seconds to go in the second period.
With a commanding 5-0 lead, VJC breezed through the final third. They were in full control for the whole period and added another after a little over five minutes through Veronica Lim (#27) in a goalmouth scramble.
VJC continued to rain shots on HCI’s goal with Annabel Lim (#8) and Tan Bao Fang (#12) firing efforts wide. They eventually wrapped up the match as 6-0 winners.
“My team did pretty well today,” said Muhd Miryanto, coach of VJC. “It was a decent effort by them but I am expecting much more. They did their best but no doubt, there’s still room from improvement. Our next match [against River Valley High School] will be tougher and I hope my team will be hungry for the win.”
“Hopefully, we’ll do one better this year. We are aiming for the championship but we still have to take one game at a time. All the teams are rather equal right now, so it goes down to who is hungrier for the gold,” added the VJC coach.
The semi-finals will be played on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at Choa Chu Kang Sports Hall starting from 1400 hours.
Players from both teams running down a loose ball. (Photo 2 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)
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Thanks for the name updates! The post has been updated
hci captain: Sarah Lim #27
photo 9 hci player: Samantha Tai #55
photo 7 hci keeper: Tong Ping Hui #1
MJC player #11: judy soh yi ling