Written By: Aakanksha Rai Edited By: Valerie Chua & Jolene Wong Photographs By: Eusoffworks
Today’s match against Kent Ridge (KR) was probably the most nerve-wracking match of the season. Riding on the momentum of their previous 2 matches, our hand-babes were down early at the SRC Handball courts, warming up and ready to go.
The game started with Eusoff on the attack. KR intercepted the ball and went for a fastbreak, which the shot was saved by good ol’ reliable Li Ann. Continuing to stay on attack, KR tried to get past Eusoff’s defence, aka the Great Wall of Eusoff, but were stopped by a great clamp from SMC Publications Head and Basketball Captain, Val. Within minutes, both Joey and Val (who accidentally choked a player in an attempted defence) received yellow cards. Talk about aggressive (not necessarily a bad thing)! Both teams were aggressive and many clamps happened within these few minutes. This dry spell was finally broken by Jamie, who scored the first goal of the game for Eusoff!!!
The KR girls immediately went on the attack and tried to score over and over again. Li Ann was able to save them all, except one. Our hand-babes were no less. Seconds later, Captain Joey swooped past KR’s defence and scored! Basketball sensation Hwee Ching was swift on her feet but her aggressive defence got her two minutes off court. The KR girls tried to take advantage of this, not realising that Eusoff had a superpower — Li Ann’s goal keeping skillzzzz.
Our hand-babes truly proved that the best offence, was defence as we saw sickkk clamps from them all night. Captain Joey led by example as she went on to score two more times. One of the times, the ball was passed to her and she just aimed past KR’s defender and shot the ball right into the net. Talk about great aim! Soon after this, Belle got two minutes off court, winning KR a penalty which they were successful in converting. They continued to attempt attacks but the ball was soon intercepted by everyone’s favourite Bread who ran ahead of everyone to score. If you thought the handball-hunks had fangirls, you should’ve heard everyone screaming for Bread. Unfortunately, it wasn’t counted due to travelling but was so sickkk that this reporter figured it deserved a mention! Just before half-time, Joey scored into the top right corner of the net, bringing the score to 3-5, to EH.
As soon as the second half of the match started, KR rushed to score but the ball was stopped by Li Ann who really proved that she’s a ball magnet. At the other end of the court, Joey tried to score but KR’s keeper stopped the ball by…sitting on it? It was much cooler than it sounded! Seconds later Li Ann employed the same method while saving the ball. The score stayed stable at 5-4 for quite a while and just when this reporter started to think that nothing was going to happen, Hwee Ching proved her wrong with a spectacular goal! Sickkkkkk!
Our hand-babes played a good portion of the match with one man down as seconds later, Bread got two minutes off court. KR took this opportunity to catch up with our handbabes. Freshie Sherlyn came in for Hwee Ching, looking forward and pumped to score a goal for Eusoff. However, due to rule violation, Sherlyn was given a two minutes and KR was quick to take a lead of one point. Our handbabes were still aggressive on defence but KR earned themselves a penalty due to a shooting foul committed by one of our players. Thankfully, we had good ol’ reliable Li Ann to save the ball. Our hand-babes did their best to catch up and even got a penalty, which they unfortunately missed. This reporter may not enjoy complimenting the opponent, but she has to admit that KR’s keeper could rival our own. The referee soon blew the whistle to mark the end of the game and KR won with a score of 6-7.
As much as we like to focus on winning, losing is a big part of the game. Losing can and should be a learning experience for all of us. Sure, it’s tough, but we need to use that emotion to fuel our work habit, assess our current skill set and improve not only as athletes, but as people. Our hand-babes will certainly come back stronger next year! Jiayou girls!! We are proud of you!
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