By REDintern Farah Alsagoff

Republic Polytechnic Sports Complex, Monday, 19 October, 2009 – The Temasek Polytechnic (TP) girls played out a 1-1 draw with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) while the same fixture in the men’s competition ended in a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Floorball Championships.

The women’s game started promisingly for TP with consistent shots by Jowie Tan (#16) and Maria Chia (#17), making NP's keeper Steffi Lee (#41) work hard to prevent an early winner.

Unfortunately NP's Felicia Lim (#15) was sent off in the 14th minute for pushing. TP capitalised on the dismissal and scored through their captain Carole Ogawa (#4) early in the second period for a 1-0 lead.

NP had their opportunity to equalize when Cally Lim (#29) took a rebound from ¾ court. Unfortunately it was off target. Seconds later, they pursued another attack that saw Rosalie Chai (#36) pass to Adhe Sarariany (#16) whose shot was too weak to trouble TP's keeper Madura Asmawiya McCormack (#1).

A moment that got everyone's hearts fluttering was during an NP free-hit when Felicia Lim's (#15) shot deflected up a TP player's stick and fell towards TP's goalpost. The ball eventually fell at the pit on top of the goalpost and goalie Madura duly grabbed it.

NP's Adhe Sarariany got her chance for the equalising goal in the 34th minute when she received a well-executed pass along the left. Unmarked, she sent it into the top corner of the goal.

At 38.47, TP's Maria got sent off for pushing but NP could not capitalize on the advantage to score the goal that would give them the lead and so the game ended 1-1. In the 2008 fixture between the two teams, TP had edged out NP with a 4-3 win.

In the men's game, NP stunned TP within five minutes of the start when Hector Tan (#10) scored from a simple grounder after receiving a pass from Jovyn Low (#11).

At 8.30, NP's Daniel Tan got sent off for pushing but NP did not suffer visibly from it.

In a controversial event, it appeared that NP's keeper Melvin Singh (#1) bear-hugged the stick of TP's Fan Yuan Hao (#23) inside the penalty box. After calling for a time-out, the referees discussed and agreed and awarded a penalty to TP. Muhd Faris (#89) stepped up to easily out-dribble NP keeper Melvin and scored TP's much-needed equalizer to make it 1-1.

NP's Ahmad Fattah (#18) and Jovyn made a series of impeccable passes for a fantastic build-up to a goal. Unfortunately, Fattah's shot was off-target.

In the second period, NP almost went ahead but TP keeper Muhammad Rozaidi (#1) just barely managed to save it. NP's Jovyn then missed out on a goal when his shot was deflected off Rozaidi's helmet.

An unmarked Hazim (TP, #17) then missed an opportunity to score when as his shot hit NP’s Darui. However, in the 35th minute, he was involved in NP’s second goal when the rebound from his shot was scooped up by teammate Faris who scored to make it 2-1.

NP's Jovyn then got sent off for pushing in the 39th minute to give TP a power play. But it was NP who almost had the last laugh as they launched their offensive box-play when #65 (not in team list) pushed up and passed to Chen Guan Ting (#23). Guan Ting’s shot was saved in the nick of time by TP's Faris.

With 45 seconds left on the clock, it seemed that TP had this game wrapped up. But once again, NP proved them wrong with a free hit at 44.35. NP's Jovyn passed to Leow Darui (#21) for a shot that leveled it at 2-2 to end the game.