Raffles hold Victoria to stalemate in A Division Girls hockey quarter-finals

By Marvin Lowe

Delta Sports Complex, Thursday, May 7, 2009 – Defending Champions Victoria Junior College were held to a 0-0 draw by Raffles Institution in an A Division Girls’ Hockey quarter-final group match.

The match conditions did not bode well for the players. The sun was blazing hot and was looking to sap the energy out of the players. The match got off to a dreary start as both teams battled hard for possession in the midfield area. Both teams tried to establish their presence and rhythm but with misplaced passes and turnovers, they were dead locked in the midfield. VJC tried to carve the Raffles defense with through balls but these passes were often over hit or easily intercepted by the Raffles defense. The first real scoring chance went to the Raffles team. Chung Siyi, dispossessed a VJC player in the midfield area and broke free. However her efforts came to naught as her pass from the flanks was intercepted. Raffles began dominating the attack, earning the first short corner of the game. They failed to convert the chance and both team went into the break at 0-0.

The second half was still a messy affair, with passes spilling everywhere. Raffles took the initiative to attack and won yet another short corner not long after the restart. This time, they managed to pull a shot off, but it was brilliantly saved by the VJC goalkeeper. Spurred on by this near miss, the VJC team managed to regroup and began counter attacking. They marauded down the flanks using their speedy wingers, but to no avail. They too managed to earn a short corner, but it came to naught as well.

In the end, the game remained scoreless at 0-0. VJC, having beaten NJC 2-0 earlier, will safely qualify to the semi finals. Raffles would have to beat NJC by more than 2 goals in order to avoid playing SAJC in the semi finals.