Contributed by reader Jolyn Ang
VJC, Saturday, May 3, 2008 – The final group games of the girls’ A Division Football Championship were played out this morning with no bearing whatsoever on the semi-finals and it was heartwarming to see the girls from all participating colleges putting in all they had to play the beautiful game out of pure passion for the sport.
There were a few unexpected results this year, but at the end of the day, quality shone through and the top three teams from last year’s FAS Inter-JC tournament qualified for the semi-finals.
Saint Andrews Junior College showed why they were champions last year, brushing aside Hwa Chong Institution 4-0, Serangoon Junior College 8-2, Nanyang Junior College 9-1, and finally, edging out Raffles Junior College 3-2 on Wednesday despite losing key players to injury. SAJC qualified in first place from Group A and will now face dark horses Meridian Junior College in the semi-finals.
This is Meridian Junior College’s first top four appearance since their competitive debut in 2006. They made history by drawing with Jurong 0-0, overcoming Innova 2-1 and battling to a surprise 1-0 win over Temasek Junior College, last year’s 4th-placed team.
Saint Andrews will play Meridian at Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday, May 7, at 3pm. Saint Andrews will be banking on star striker Maria Rowe and their attacking play whilst their opponents Meridian will be looking to put their resolute defence to the test.
Victoria Junior College defeated Temasek Junior College 9-0 at home this morning to round up an impressive group campaign which saw them clinch maximum points without letting in a single goal. They face RJC who qualified as runners-up despite the loss to St Andrew’s.
Raffles will be eager to break Victoria’s consecutive clean sheets with influential midfielder Germaine Yap at the helm of a determined and ambitious team. RJC fought to the last minute against defending champios SAJC on Wednesday, putting two past them. Raffles’ road to the semi-finals has seen stellar performances. They opened with a 9-0 win over Nanyang before coming out tops in close games with Hwa Chong Institution and Serangoon.
Victoria will do good to be wary and not let complacency affect their play. The Victorians would no doubt be looking to captain and last year’s Most Valuable Player, Ang Kuan Ren, for inspiration, and hoping their strikers will once again show their lethal form.
Victoria will be playing Raffles in the other semi-final at St Wilfred’s Stadium, also on Wednesday, 3pm.
Stay tuned to Red Sports for the latest updates, previews and reviews of the girls’ first ever official A Division Football Championship season.
Ok I’ll set up the nomination sometime this week. 🙂
As for covering the premier league matches, well, if FAS is willing to round up some sponsors for us, we can always be the official media for women’s football.
So what say you, FAS?
yo abt the women’s premier league matches, it would be great if redsports could cover it as well! just to add more depth to the coverage of women’s soccer. 🙂 it’s coming to an end with the last of the 3 round-robins to go. The matches are really exciting, but sadly there are only 5 teams in the league. After the premier league there’s also the women’s youth league, which fixtures an exciting number of 12 teams! 🙂
i second the voting as well! 🙂
thanks les for the immediate response.
well, i do hope there is one too. for this sport seems to be covered more often recently. even in the straits times. maybe this can be a platform for fellow soccer girls to show their support for each other?
and yes, thanks indeed to jolyn for her coverage on this sport.
seconded!
&i want t thank jolyn for the awesome work she’s done covering adiv soccer! ((:
You’re welcome, hongry.
Voting for best 11 A Div girls?
If I get a lot of requests, sure why not. Anybody second that?
is there any voting for redsports best 11 girls A div soccer players?
hey redsports just want to say thanks for covering this year’s inter-jc matches. having been out-of-touch with the jc sports scene since graduating, this site has been my source of information for the regular feed of school sports news. its heartening especially to see ppl covering for girls’ soccer, as it hasn’t been an easy route for this sport.
anyway, for fans of women’s soccer, the women’s premier league is now on-going, if anyone’s interested do drop by the matches and give the teams support. the fixtures are at http://www.fas.org.sg/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=2911&pgID=1968