MSSA Football: Cathedral And John Connon Girls Win U-16 Div I Title

Cathedral and John Connon School, Fort, made a grand double after their girls' team lifted the Under-16 Division I title in the Dream Sports MSSA Inter School Football Tournament. The Cathedral school edged out Jamnabai Narsee, Juhu 2-1 in the tiebreaker after a goalless full-time in the final at Wings Sports Centre, Bandra (West) on Tuesday.

The Cathedral boys had won the Under-16 Division I title at the same venue on Monday, and the girls followed in their footsteps to bring more laurels to the school.

"It was our fourth title since I joined the school more than two decades ago. We won in 2005, 2015, and 2016 and have also been finalists on two more occasions. We have been promoting football in the school and consistently producing good players. Our boy Anaai Dsouza got selected for the FIFA-AIFF Academy in Orissa, and our girls have also done well in DSO, CISCE, SGFI, and Subroto Cup tournaments," said Cathedral Physical Education Teacher cum Girls team football coach, Deepak Narwade.

Cathedral girls team skipper Vedita Kapadia stepped up in the tiebreaker to score from the spot and make two crucial saves in the goal. Another talented player from the winning team, Anasuya Raju, scored the second penalty. Cathedral missed two penalty kicks but didn't need to take the fifth kick from the spot as Jamnabai missed four penalty kicks. Saisha Ranawat was the lone scorer for them in the match.

Both sides had their opportunities in the regulation time, but Jamnabai dominated in terms of possession and control. However, Cathedral defense gave away nothing to keep their side in the game.

A midfielder who likes to play as a right winger, Kapadia donned gloves in the tiebreaker to make the difference. "Our goalkeeper is good, but I add a little bit more value while defending penalties. I look into the eyes of the penalty taker and try to anticipate which side she will aim and make my movements accordingly. It worked for us today as I saved two penalties and they shot two wide under pressure," said Kapadia after lifting the trophy.

Vedita admitted her team was pumped up after their boys won the title on Monday. Anaai's selection for the prestigious residency camp in Bhubaneswar to develop with the India U-17 team added motivation in the camp. "We were determined to make it a double and gave our all in the field. Anaai's selection has given a boost to all school players, and they believe they can also make it big," said Kapadia, who has been playing football since the U-8 level. "I was also part of the girls' school team that won U-19 school nationals last year and look forward to being part of many victories," chuckled the Cristiano Ronaldo fan.

Incidentally, Cathedral girls had lost to Jamnabai Narsee 0-2 in the league stages. However, they showed improvement to keep the clean slate in the final. Despite pressure from rival forwards, they took the game to penalties, where Kapadia did the heroics.

"We lost 0-2 to the same team. Our players were not maintaining proper positions, and midfielders were not providing support to the defense. We came prepared for the game and learnt from mistakes. Our players displayed better positioning and ball control to give nothing away today," Narwade added.

Smt. RSB Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu, finished third despite some impressive performances in the tournament. They suffered a close semifinal loss against Jamnabai in the semifinal on Monday via tiebreaker. AVM came all guns blazing on Tuesday to beat Bombay Scottish Powai 2-0 to bag third place. Radhika Vyas and Meera Toolsidass were the goal scorers.

Results

G-16-I- Final

Cathedral and John Connon (Fort) (Vedita Kapadia, Anasuya Raju) (2) Full time score 0-0 Beat Via tie Breaker 2-1 Janabai Narsee, Juhu (Saisha Ranawat) (1).

3rd Place

Smt. RSB Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu (Radhika Vyas, Meera Toolsidass) (2) Beat Bombay Scottish (Powai) (0).

G-16-II-A

Swami Vivekanand Int. & jr Col.(Kand) (Sara Mhatre) Beat Utpal Sanghvi (Borivali) (0).

Bhaktivedanta Swami Mission (Andheri)(0) Drew with Universal School (Dahisar) (0).

The Somaiya School (Vidyavihar) (Mishika Jain)(1) Beat Jamnabai Narsee School Int.(Juhu) (0).

Shindewadi Mumbai Public School (Arya Manjrekar 2, Mrunmayee Jadhav 1)(3) Beat the Cathedral and John Connon IGCSE School (Fort) (0).