FLOORBALL

National ‘A’ Division Championship 2007
Innova Junior College vs National Junior College
Friday, 13 July 2007 at Tampines Sports Hall

Story by Leslie Tan. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei. © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures

Catch floorball highlights in Episode 18 of RedSportsTV.

Innova Junior College (IJC) beat National Junior College (NJC) 6-1 in the recently concluded National ‘A’ Division Floorball Championship.

IJC’s Amin attempting to tap the ball into the NJ goal past goalie Gerard James.   © Lai Jun Wei

With just 3:44 gone on the clock, IJC’s captain Caleb Leow, off a free hit, scored a long-range goal from a seemingly harmless position. IJC’s Rochester Tan then doubled the score at the 9:06 mark when a centre by teammate Amin was deflected into his path by an NJC defender. Despite being down 2-0, NJC fought back. NJ’s Chong Tuck Wen brought the ball down the right flank and found Samuel Cheong in a wide open position with a pass. Samuel’s slap shot high into the top left corner of the net at 12:01 gave IJ goalie Shaun Tien no chance to make it 1-2. NJ almost made it 2-2 when Tuck Wen showed good stick handling skills to take the ball all the way from his own goal and up the court before taking a shot at goal but he missed. Then NJ missed another opportunity when a botched up IJ line change while they were in possession gave them a great chance but they could not get their shot off in time to test the IJ goalie. Then it was IJ’s turn to miss a chance to score when Ifan found himself open with the goal at his mercy but he hit an air shot which left him shaking his head and his bench groaning in frustration.


IJC’s Ifan taking a free hit while NJC players form a wall.   © Lai Jun Wei

The same story continued in the 2nd period.  IJ’s Caleb Leow threaded a pass between two NJ defenders to Amin. With the bench anticipating a goal, he shot high and wide, eliciting another round of groans from his teammates. NJ came back with an attack of their own when Neoh Shi Liang found teammate Nicholas Aw with an accurate pass. Nicholas’ attempted reverse slap shot however was high and wide of the left-hand post.


Marcus (centre, in black) tries to out maneuver Syafiq and the Raj of IJC while teammate
Jian Hong (left, in black) looks on.   © Lai Jun Wei

IJ piled on the pressure and were rewarded with a fourth goal. Syahir cleared the ball from defense all the way to the NJ goal. The ball however was not caught and bounced back into play off the NJ goalie. IJ’s Amin was first to the loose ball and his reverse slap shot arrowed straight into the bottom right corner of the goal to make it 4-1 for IJC. NJC had a chance to get another goal when Marcus Wong found himself clear through on the IJ goal but his shot was saved by IJ goalie Zaki.


Idris about to cross the ball.   © Lai Jun Wei

When the 3rd period got underway, IJ got on the score sheet quickly. Ang Kok Liang’s reverse slap shot made it 5-1 at the 31:38 mark. Then NJ dug a deeper hole for themselves when Clement Yap was sent off the court to sit out a two-minute penalty. But IJ couldn’t make their power play count with both Ifan and Amin missing good chances to score. NJ continued to make a game of it when Marcus Yap’s reverse slap shot just whizzed past the left-hand post of the IJ goal. Then NJ incurred another penalty when Clemence Kng took out IJ’s Ang Kok Liang with a body check that sent Kok Liang sprawling into the boards. However, IJ again could not make the 4-3, one-man advantage count during the two-minute penalty.


IJC’s Kenneth Chai pumping the ball straight towards the NJ goal.   © Lai Jun Wei

Then it was IJ who found themselves a man short when Kok Liang himself was sent to the sin bin to cool off for two minutes after a push on NJ’s Clement Yap. IJC however turned the tables on NJ when good possession play by Ifan gave him time to find his captain Caleb Leow in an open position in front of the NJ goal. With the NJ goalie exposed, Caleb slotted home the final goal to wrap up a 6-1 victory for IJC.

More pictures in the gallery.

Innova Junior College:

#1 Zaki
#3 Rochester Tan
#5 Charles Low
#7 Eugene Goh
#8 Syahir
#9 Ang Kok Liang
#10 Ifan
#11 Raj Kumar
#13 Syafiq
#14 Quek Wee Yong
#16 Shawn Tien
#19 Caleb Leow (captain)
#25 Idris
#27 Sim Shi Xiong
#31 Faizal
#43 Kenneth Chai
#44 Amin
#99 Starsky Lim

National Junior College:

#1 Gerard Andrew James
#5 Samuel Cheong
#8 Liew Wai Kit
#9 Chong Tuck Wen
#10 Gary Goh
#11 Trent Lai
#13 Neoh Shi Liang
#15 Marcus Yap
#16 Ang Jia Wei
#17 Marcus Wong
#18 Nicholas Aw
#19 Clement Yap
#20 Louise Tan
#22 Soh Su Kiat
#23 Sim Xian Hui (captain)
#27 Goh Jian Hong
#28 Fong Kin Phang
#77 Clemence Kng

Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your teammates, let us know the names in the COMMENTS SECTION and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.