Victorians triumph in ‘C’ Div hockey final

SINGAPORE — It was a pitch invasion, but not the kind that would get one into trouble with the authorities.

At the Sengkang Hockey Stadium yesterday, supporters of Victoria School (VS) could not help leaping over the barriers to celebrate their team’s 2-1 win over Raffles Institution (RI) in the National Inter-School “C” Division hockey final.

Playing two halves of 30 minutes each, the evenly-contested battle saw VS taking the lead four minutes before half-time, with 14-year-old Marcus Lee sweeping home from a penalty corner.

RI drew level early in the second half with captain Mark Cheong’s solo effort, in a move that started from the centre of the field.

With the match tied at 1-1, both teams upped their tempo in search of the winner, and that was to come midway through the second half, with Jonathan Koh’s effort wrongfooting RI goalkeeper Nicholas Tay.

For 13-year-old Jonathan, who only picked up the sport five months ago, scoring the match-winner which brought the trophy back to his school for the first time since 2009 was, in his words, “a huge accomplishment”.

“All our hard work at training has paid off,” he said.

For RI’s Mark, it was scant consolation that he managed to score a goal in the losing effort. “I was excited and I felt pumped up. I thought there was hope for us to win this. But, by the end, I guess we weren’t mentally prepared enough to continue,” he said.

Earlier, CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent (STC) successfully defended their “C” Division crown by beating Seng Kang Secondary School 1-0, courtesy of a first-half goal from 13-year-old Alicia Neo.

Said STC coach Ronnie Yeo: “The girls worked very hard and, although we didn’t start the game too well, they got better. The game was close, but we had more possession and took the chances that came to us.”

FELICIA QUICK