PUNE Playing in an under-19 final with a squad majorly comprising of girls aged 14, Vidya Bhavan school lifted the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports Pune Girls trophy, after beating Bishop’s School, Kalyaninagar on penalties at the Hedgewar Ground in Pimpri on Wednesday.
Vidya Bhavan have gone the entire tournament without conceding a single goal in normal time, having played four games and scoring six goals in the process; and two victories coming in penalty shoot-outs, including one in the final.
The Vidya Bhavan girls squad of 18 players are coached by Sports Excel and 13 of the players in the team are aged 14, while the remaining five are aged 15.
The comparatively young Vidya Bhavan side were desperate for silverware after their team finished second best in the Guru Tegh Bahadur Football Tournament earlier this month.
In the first round, Vidya Bhavan were awarded a walk-over as their opponents did not turn up. In round two, they faced Bishop’s Camp, and managed to earn a 2-0 victory against them. In the quarter-final round, Vidya Bhavan routed Abhishek Vidyalayam 4-0.
In the semifinals, Vidya Bhavan’s match against Global Indian International School, Chinchwad, was dead-locked at 0-0 an went into penalties. A superb performance between the sticks by keeper Ria Rajesh, 14, helped Vidya Bhavan bag a 3-0 victory in penalties. Vidya Bhavan were kept at bay yet again in the final by Bishop’s Kalyaninagar.
{{/usCountry}}In the semifinals, Vidya Bhavan’s match against Global Indian International School, Chinchwad, was dead-locked at 0-0 an went into penalties. A superb performance between the sticks by keeper Ria Rajesh, 14, helped Vidya Bhavan bag a 3-0 victory in penalties. Vidya Bhavan were kept at bay yet again in the final by Bishop’s Kalyaninagar.
{{/usCountry}}Bishop’s hit the Vidya Bhavan goal with a barrage of attacks in the second-half. An opportunity fell to Tanishka Salunke, as her effort hit the underside of the crossbar, but bounced on the wrong side of the line.
Compared to Bishop’s, Vidya Bhavan did not pose a major threat from open play throughout the match. Vidya Bhavan attackers did manage to get in the box with the ball on several occasions, only to see it fail to manifest into a goal.
Penalty shootout
Vidya Bhavan - 0 Bishop’s - 1
The whistle was blown and the game entered the dreaded penalty shoot-out. Vidya Bhavan were off to a horrible start in the shoot-out when their skipper, Srushti Andhale’s effort was saved by Bishop’s keeper-skipper, Shivanjali Pandit. Bishop’s winger, Vaibhavi Maid, ensured her side the advantage as she slotted her penalty past the keeper into the bottom-left corner.
Vidya Bhavan - 1 Bishop’s - 1
Mansi Sharma kept her cool to help get Vidya Bhavan off the mark. Keeper Ria Rajesh then came up with a brilliant save to deny Nicole Dobson as the game was now level.
Vidya Bhavan - 1 Bishop’s - 1
Vidya Bhavan fluffed their lines again as Rajesh stepped up to take the spot-kick, but ended up shooting it straight at the keeper.
Vidya Bhavan - 2 Bishop’s - 1
However, the keeper redeemed herself instantly as she produced another brilliant save to deny Aarshiya Wadhwani. Vidya Bhavan finally took the lead in the shoot-out courtesy of Kshitija Nimhan who placed her shot well into the right side of the goal.
Vidya Bhavan -3 Bishop’s - 1
Bishop’s were dealt a third successive blow as Rajesh was able to deny Shivanjali Pandit from the spot. Grishma Jagtap managed to keep her nerves and slotted home the winner to give the young Vidya Bhavan side a 3-1 victory in the shoot-out of the final.
Exam no bar for Vidya Bhavan skipper
Fifteen-year-old Srushti Andale is the young captain of the Vidya Bhavan girls football team. Andale had more than just a final to worry about on Wednesday, as her school had scheduled a preliminary exam on the same day. In the morning at 10am, the Class 10 student appeared for her Marathi exam, and then rushed to the Hedgewar ground in Pimpri.
Andale reached the venue just a few minutes before kick-off. The teenager was distraught after missing the opening penalty of the shoot-out, but luckily for her, the others were on target and her team could bask in the glory of their success.