Strikes from distance the key to 11th straight A Div girls football title for VJC

SINGAPORE – Scoring a whopping 40 goals and conceding none across six preliminary-round matches, Victoria Junior College (VJC) had only one objective heading into the National School Games A Division girls’ football final.

Win, and make it 11 titles in a row.

And they did exactly that, defeating their opponents Hwa Chong Institution 4-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium on May 21.

The commanding scoreline did not paint the full picture, however. While VJC unsurprisingly dominated possession early on, they found it difficult to create any clear-cut chances, such was the dogged nature of Hwa Chong’s strategy, which was to “soak up pressure and hit them on the counter-attack”, according to coach and teacher-in-charge Patrick David.

But it was swiftly undone in the 12th minute. After finding herself in space on the edge of the penalty area, VJC midfielder Ruby Tjipto curled the ball into the top corner of the Hwa Chong net to open the scoring.

“If the thing (defence) holds, then you can frustrate. But (the first goal) forced them to come out of their shape,” said David, 59.

“That’s what happens sometimes. So I went for a more aggressive (approach),but we still could not break through.”

Going into the break, both teams knew a lot more was required in the remaining 40 minutes, and it was VJC who stepped up, showing just why they are serial winners in this competition.

Following some scrappy defending after a VJC corner, Thanya Kathiravan popped up outside the box to stroke the ball past Caryl Chong for their second goal just five minutes after the restart. Ecstatic, the 17-year-old ran towards the VJC supporters.

“Like one of my teammates said, I’m not just playing for myself. I’m playing for my teammates, for everyone who’s behind me and supporting me. So