Pawar Public girls clinch MSSA U-14 Div-II title

The victorious Pawar Public School girls with the MSSA U-14 Div-II football trophy at Goan Sports Association ground. Pic/Atul Kamble

Pawar Public School (Kandivli) played with plenty of grit and determination and managed to eke out a narrow 1-0 win over a sprightly Gopal Sharma International School (Powai) in an engrossing girls under-14 Division-II final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at the Goan Sports Association ground on Wednesday.

The Gopal Sharma girls started in attacking fashion and held the upper hand initially as Abriana Chandy, the livewire in their forwardline, made a couple of runs towards the rival citadel and came close to scoring. But, against the run of play, Pawar Public School captain Nishika Shah, from a snap counter-attack, scored the only goal of the match in the eighth minute. Thereafter, the Kandivli school girls defended resolutely to deny their opponents from scoring the equaliser, and ensured the title was theirs.

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Earlier, in the third-place match, St Augustine High School (Nerul) got the better of Bombay Scottish (Powai) 2-0. After both teams failed to score in the first half, the Nerul school girls broke the deadlock with striker Avika Deshmukh firing home the opening goal in the
29th minute.

Avika's teammate Kirti Pawar then sealed their win, scoring the second goal in the 47th minute.