Mumbai: St Thomas Academy, Goregaon emerged as the champions of the MSSA under-16 girls football with a hard-fought 3-2 win overSt Thomas Academy, at he Cooperage ground, Colaba here on Monday. The teams failed to break the deadlock during the regular time and were locked 2-2 in the tie-breaker to go into the sudden death.
Dhiti Varma, the make-shift custodian made the difference for the girls from Goregaon. She averted three from the dreaded spot during the tie-breaker and saved Saniya Akre’s low shot in the sudden-death for them to emerge as the champions. Dhiti Varma of St Thomas threatened the rival goal time and again, but lacked the killer instinct. The teams dished out good soccer and failed to break the deadlock in the regular time. In the shoot-out they were locked 2-2. “I was not used to goalkeeping earlier, but once my coach at Kenkre FC asked me to keep the nets and I made continuous saves which helped me boost my confidence and I continued practising on the side,” said Dhiti after the match. In a Boy's U-16 Div IV match, Bombay Scottish, Powai, secured the third position in the tournament after they edged out Nahar International School 4-3 in the penalty shootouts. Keisha Virani scored one in the final minutes to cancel Disha Khadtare’s first-half goal and force a penalty shootout.
Results
Girls u-16 Div II: St Thomas Academy, Goregaon: 3 (Ankita Patil, Harsha Talankar, Harshita Panchal bt Canossa High School: 2 (Bhumika Mane, Alizza Sayyed); Bombay Scottish, Powai: 4 (Dia Daijan, Kashish Modani, Smriti Chaturvedi, Sheetal Prakash) bt Nahar International School: 3 (Alisha Arora, Vriddhi Chaphekar, Riya Puri)
Boys u-16 Div IV: The Cathedral & John Connon: 11 (Yohan Benjiman 3, Abhinav Shah 2, Ayaan Mahajan, Dhrishaan Mehta, Dev Kedia, Kavish Phatak, Meherzaad Dastor, Samar Uniyal) bt Hiranandani Foundation School: 0; St Stanislaus High School: 4 (Revel Fernandes 2, Calvin D’Souza, Keenan Pereira) bt Lakshdham High School: 0; St Paul High School: 1 (Jeevan Laddhar) bt Christ Church School: 0
