Vamika’s brace helps AVM girls defend U-16 Div-I title

Smt RSB Arya Vidya Mandir players after winning the MSSA girls U-16 Division-I title in Borivli yesterday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Playing true to their potential, reigning champions Smt RSB AVM (Juhu) successfully defended their girls under-16 first division title in the MSSA inter-school football tournament with a resounding 4-0 win over Bombay Scottish (Mahim) in the final at the St Francis D'Assisi ground, Borivli, here on Thursday.

In complete control of things right from the outset for AVM (Juhu) was striker Vamika Udeshi, who netted a brace while the tally was completed by the influential Radhika Vyas and Rhea Murudkar contributing a goal each. The AVM girls quickly settled into their stride and broke the deadlock in the seventh minute when Vamika made no mistake after the Scottish custodian Vanshika Reddy failed to cleanly collect a long through ball.

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Vamika Udeshi

Despite the ground conditions being heavy due to intermittent rain, the AVM side enjoyed some neat exchange of passes as skipper Stuti Kothari and Radhika pulled the strings in the midfield. Rhea doubled their lead late in the first half, again capitalising on an error by the Scottish defence. Moments before the half-time whistle, Radhika finished off a neat pass from Vamika to make it 3-0.

On resumption, AVM continued their dominance as Vamika rounded off a neat finish from the right, capping all the hard work was done by Norah Bhattacharya down the centre.

"I'm very happy with how my team played today, particularly given the tough ground conditions. I was confident of getting a positive result from this summit clash as we had studied our opposition well and executed out plans to counter their game plan," AVM coach Desmond D'Souza told mid-day.

Bombay Scottish coach, Abdulla Ansari admitted their opponents were far superior. "AVM are a really good team with technically sound players. We need to work on our tactical aspects," said Ansari.

Earlier, the third place was won by Rustomjee Cambridge (Dahisar) who beat Rustomjee Cambridge (Thane) 2-0 with Naomi Soans and captain Harshini Iyer getting the goals.