MSSA: Kimaya's 3 does the 'trick

Members of the victorious Cathedral & John Connon team with the trophy after beating Rustomjee International in the MSSA U-12 Division-1 final at Azad Maidan yesterday. pic/ Atul Kamble

Kimaya Apte showed off her brilliant scoring skills and grabbed all the attention with a hat-trick which inspired Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) to a 3-0 win against strong challengers Rustomjee International (Dahisar) in the girls U-12 Division-I final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday.

The dashing forward Kimaya displayed her versatility by trapping Rustomjee goalkeeper Aanya Kallianpur's goal-kick at the top of the box before shooting home the opening goal in the seventh minute.

Rustomjee struggle

The Rustomjee schoolgirls were unable to get their act together as they found the going tough. They were still to recover from that early setback when Kimaya scored the second goal in the 13th minute Kimaya picked up Riva Raghavan's pass and sidestepped a rival defender before sending the ball past goalkeeper Aanya to double the lead.

Rustomjee fought on gamely and did well to put up a challenge. They managed to make a couple of raids towards the Cathedral goal and had a few goal-bound shots, but without any success.

Kimaya seemed to have saved her best for last as she produced a terrific individual effort to score the third goal in the final moments of the match.

Kimaya Apte is all smiles

Latching on to Jiya Didwania pass Kimaya launched into solo run as she weaved her way past a couple of defenders before slotting in the final goal of the match to ensure Cathedral & John Connon emerge champions.

"It's amazing to score a hat-trick and help the school win the title. This is an apt reward for the hard work and serious practise. We have worked well as a team and all the coaches have been guiding us and helping us to improve our game and we have given them the best result," Kimaya told mid-day before rushing home to prepare for the MSSA tennis tournament on Sunday.

"I also play tennis and was runner-up in the MSSA girls' U-10 event in 2016. This year I will be competing in the U-12 category and I am determined to win the crown," the Rafael Nadal fan, Kimaya stated.

AVM finish third

Earlier, Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) finished third as they defeated Christ Church (Byculla) 3-1 via the tie-breaker after the matched ended in a goalless draw.

Shanaia Kapour, Mahek Malhotra and Vanika Udeshi scored for Arya Vidya Mandir while only Safaa Gazi scored for Christ Church.

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