Saints beat MJC in penalty shoot-out to advance into A Division girls’ football final

By REDintern Desiray Tay

Jalan Besar Stadium, Thursday, May 14, 2009 – St Andrew’s Junior College edged out Meridian Junior College 4-3 in a penalty shootout to take their place in the final of the A Division Girls’ Football Championship.

What was expected to be an easy match for the Saints turned out quite differently due to steady MJC defending as well as a good dose of luck for the Meridians. The ball was tossed back and forth like a hot potato with neither side able to hold possession for long. The play was confined mostly to the midfield and as such, both keepers were hardly tested until the game went into a penalty shoot-out after extra time.

Narmadha (SAJC, #9) got the game going when her pace and skill led to the first shot on goal. Meridian were lucky as the post came to their rescue twice to deny SA a lead.

As the game proceeded, it was evident that Narmadha (SAJC, #9) was the biggest threat to Meridian. It was a battle of the nines as Zhiyin (MJC captain, #9) went up constantly against Narmadha (SAJC, #9).

Meridian struggled to get any rhythm going as their midfielders failed to make any headway with the ball against a dominating SAJC midfield. Meridian were also missing their key player, Nisha (MJC, #8), in midfield to an ankle injury and the loss was obvious. Whenever MJC managed to get the ball to their striker Wan Er (MJC, #7), the fast and fierce SAJC defenders would close her down.

Despite showing a beautiful passing game, Saints had no result to show for it and it was no surprise the game went into extra-time.

The extra-time period yielded no goals and soon the excitement and dread of the penalty shoot-out loomed.

Meridian took the first penalty kick, and Mun (MJC, #6) calmly sent it into the left top corner of the net. Narmadha (SAJC, #9) then followed up and the keeper had no chance with a swift and straight shot to the right.

Athirah (MJC,#3) took the second kick and celebrated an accurate grounder to the left. SAJC’s #7 then hit a slow ball that could have been saved if not for a wrong decision by MJC keeper Khai who moved to the left before switching to the right, but she was a fraction of a second too late.

With the score tied at 2-2, Anne Marie (MJC, #18) sent the ball straight at the SAJC keeper Pamela Kong and she held her head as she walked back to the comforting arms of her team. The SAJC #19 then hit home the third penalty for and the Saints were now up 3-2.

The MJC #29 was too anxious and took the penalty before the referee’s whistle. The penalty was declared void but she recomposed herself enough to score the retaken penalty.

Then the Saints captain #11 was denied by a right dive from Khai and it was now tied at 3-3. However, Meridian’s last kicker Eunice (MJC, #22) failed to convert her penalty and the SAJC #6 went on to score the winning penalty to make it 4-3 to ensure her team qualified for the final.

SAJC will now meet Victoria Junior College who crushed Raffles Institution 10-1 in the other semi-final.