Written By: Aakanksha Rai Edited By: Valerie Chua & Jolene Wong Photographs By: Eusoffworks
To say that today’s match was MAD REAL would be an understatement. Last year, the semi-finals was the last stop in our handball-hunks’ IHG journey. Our boys have been working extremely hard to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself. Our handball-hunks met Raffles Hall (RH) on the courts on a scorching Saturday morning, backed by a crowd of Eusoffians who came despite the early 9am match.
The match started with Eusoff on the attack. Our team quickly turned on the offensive with the first attempt from BIG BOI Marcus who unfortunately stepped on the line. Our handball-hunks tried to score multiple times but had a tough time getting past RH’s tight defence. RH soon took control of the ball. Our handball-hunks had a hard time with the defence as the sun was shining right into their eyes. RH took advantage of this and soon scored. Riding on the momentum of their first goal, they tried to shoot again but the wingshot was saved by veteran goalkeeper, Jun Yu. Unfortunately, this was the moment that Jun Yu decided to show us that he really is human as he was unable to save RH’s next two shots. This gave RH a lead, early into the game.
The crowd went wild as ex-Captain Jon cut past his defender to attempt a shot but missed. Thankfully, Bala picked up the rebound quickly and scored! What a BALALALALALA! Soon after, Aaron attempted a left wing shot but RH’s keeper was able to save it. With the sun in his eyes, even Jun Yu’s god-like keeping skills couldn’t save us as RH was successful in scoring several more times. Our handball-hunks were not discouraged and continued to fight hard. There was a great pass from cannon arms Marcus Chew to the pivot, Bala, who was quick to convert the ball with a smash! Soon after this, beastly Josh cut past RH’s defence to score in style. As if one goal wasn’t enough, he went on to score once again, accompanied with a roll. Style is style, even if it’s unintentional.
BIG B0I Marcus dishing the ball to Bala. Sick chemistry!!!!!
This reporter didn’t need to turn her head to see that Timo had come on as goalkeeper. His fangirls’ screams were a good enough indication. As soon as he was on the court, the RH players tried to attack over and over again but weren’t able to convert a single ball into a goal. Captain Tomo’s quick hands intercepted RH’s ball, did a fast break, made a 9m shot and SCORED!!!! The crowd went crazy, banging the drum and chanting “EUSOFF! EUSOFF!” over and over again. RH retaliated with a goal. Not to be left behind, BIG BOI CANNON ARMS Marcus Chew scored via a left wing shot. Eusoff’s aggressive earned RH a penalty which they soon converted. RH attempted a fast break but were stopped by giant Darren’s aggressive clamp. There there. There’s no better way to describe it than to say that he literally swept the RH player off his feet. By the time that the referee blew his whistle for half time, Eusoff was down by 6 goals.
It was clear that during half-time, our handball-hunks learned that the best offence, is defence as they didn’t let a single ball cross them. Aaron’s aggressive defence (not necessarily a bad thing) got him a yellow card and two minutes off court. In these two minutes, RH scored twice, Josh scored a wingshot, RH scored in a penalty and Tomo scored from 9m! As soon as Aaron was back on court, he attempted a shot but unfortunately missed. Not to worry though, as Bala got the re-bound and made it count! What a lad! RH tried to score over and over again but the crowd’s cheers of “DEFENCE!” seemed to energize our handball-hunks who executed several rounds of good defence.
Josh showing us how it’s done… Just look at the keeper’s face!
With just ten minutes left in the game, Eusoff was down by seven points. Our handball-hunks were not discouraged and continued to give the game their everything. Back to back scores from Bala (who scored 7 times in this game, simply amazing!) forced RH to call for a time-out. Our boys really upped their defence. Even after Josh got two minutes off, our handball-hunks’ defence was impenetrable. After the timeout, god-like Junyu proved himself to be a ball magnet as the balls somehow always went to him and he managed to save shot after shot. His soccer skills were on full display as he used his legs to block many of the attempts by the RH players. With four goals by freshie, Shaoye, and more goals by veteran player Aaron, BIG BOI Marcus Chew and Bala Eusoff was tied with RH. WHAT. A. COMEBACK!?!?!??!
God-like Junyu denying almost all the balls with just 10 minutes left in the game!
Quick feet Shaoye soon drew a penalty which was taken by Aaron. His penalty shot was saved by the keeper but he got his own rebound and made it count, putting Eusoff in the lead! The crowd went wild! Unwilling to lose the hard earned lead, Eusoff improved both their defence and their offence. Captain Tomo cut past the defenders and scored! RH refused to be left behind and scored two more times. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. A good pass from veteran Jon to Shaoye allowed him to score from the left wing. Proving why he is captain, Tomo went on to score two more times! In one last attempt, RH tried to score again but Jun Yu saved the ball just as the referee blew his whistle.
WHAT. A. GAME. Eusoff won with a score of 27-30 and are through to the finals. Our handball hunks fought till the very last minute and they sure did not disappoint. In the words of handball Captain Tomo, they trusted each other and did not stop playing their own game no matter how bad the result was. Most importantly, they never gave up. Do come to watch the finals on Thursday! Let’g go boys!
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