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Zilla parishad girls U-14 tournament: St Mary’s to face Gurukul in summit clash
Momentary disappointment came to an end as the final whistle blew a minute after the miss as St Mary’s confirmed their presence in the final of the tournament after a dominant display. Mary’s will face SES’s Gurukul School in the final.
St Mary’s decimated Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School 5-0 to enter the final of zilla parishad girls’ u-14 tournament played at the St Patrick’s School Ground on Wednesday. With seven players of Kalmadi wearing white colour outfit as St Mary’s and no bibs to differentiate them, it was a game of confusion.
St Mary’s was on attack mode from the first whistle as Surbhi Upadhyay’s effort skimmed the far-post and went out for a goal kick in the first minute. Striker Anisha Jagdale was the next to lodge an attack as her free kick was on target, but collected by Kalmadi’s keeper. Kalmadi’s defence looked fragile and goalkeeper’s kicks were weak. In one instance, the Kalmadi keeper kicked the ball directly at Jagdale, but the young forward failed to take advantage of the clearance and failed to shoot on target.
Despite Kalmadi committing errors, both teams were deadlocked at 0-0, before Anisha whipped in a beautiful ball from a corner that landed in Surbhi’s feet and the striker needed no extra touches to hammer it and give Mary’s a well-deserved lead.
The momentum was with Mary’s as they crept forward in search for another goal. Riana Verma dribbled past two defenders, but failed to apply the finishing touch with the ball flying wide of goal. Kalmadi was still messing up their goal kicks as most of the passes went straight to the attackers of St Mary’s. Numerous attempts were defended or were wide as Mary’s was in possession of a slender one-goal lead at half time.
Anisha left her teammates, opponents and spectators in awe as she hammered in the second goal of the match straight from kick-off. After her coach encouraged her to strike the ball at goal, Anisha, without any hesitation, took a long run-up and smashed the ball into the top-right corner of the goal from the half-line. The Kalmadi keeper tried her best, but could not even get her fingertips on the ball.
Seeing no intent in Kalmadi’s gameplay, Mary’s switched to an all-out attack strategy, in an effort to nab a few more goals. The strategy paid off as Riana pounced on another weak goal kick and finally made Kalmadi pay for their silly mistake. Shortly after the third goal, Anisha went pacing down the left flank, cut inside and placed her effort beyond the keeper to give Mary’s a commanding four-goal lead.
Mary’s was awarded a penalty in the final few minutes of the game after the official saw the ball being handled by a Kalmadi defender. Surbhi stepped up to take the spot-kick and calmly slotted it past the keeper to make the scoreline embarrassing for Kalmadi.
There was still time for another Mary’s attack and another penalty for them after yet another handball inside the box. The effort was well wide of goal. Momentary disappointment came to an end as the final whistle blew a minute after the miss as St Mary’s confirmed their presence in the final of the tournament after a dominant display. Mary’s will face SES’s Gurukul School in the final.
Gurukul pip Hutchings to enter final
Gurukul will face St Mary’s in the final after they emerged as comfortable victors against Hutchings School. The game between the two sides was a tad cagey, but two goals in two minutes from skipper Rama Deshmukh and Drishti Patil disrupted Hutchings’ tempo. Like their final opponents, Gurukul failed to capitalise on the errors committed by the Hutchings’ defence.
Gurukul went in at half-time with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Gurukul slowed down in the second half as they looked satisfied with the score. In the initial stages of the second half, an easy catch was spilled by the Hutchings’ goalkeeper, but the Gurukul attackers could not convert the opportunity as Hutchings escaped lightly. The fate of the game was sealed seven minutes before the full time whistle as striker Mrunal Sagvekar made it 3-0.
Sagvekar was in the right place at the right time. Gurukul won a free kick and the initial effort ricocheted off the post, leaving the goalkeeper out of position, and landed straight in the path of Sagvekar, who was left completely unmarked in the penalty area. All the young striker had to do was tap the ball into an empty net, eliminating Hutchings and assuring her team’s presence in the final of the tournament.
