20 September,2016 08:00 AM IST | | Narendra Sastry
Bandra school team shrug off hectic schedule which included playing hockey, to beat Mary Immaculate Girls (Borivli) 3-0 in MSSA U-16 inter-school football tournament
Apostolic Carmel High School's Sana Khan (right) in action against Mary Immaculate Girls School's Valerie Castelino during MSSA girls' U-16 Division I football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan
Apostolic Carmel High School's Sana Khan (right) in action against Mary Immaculate Girls School's Valerie Castelino during MSSA girls' U-16 Division I football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan
Despite most of their players playing thrice in as many days, Apostolic Carmel High School (Bandra) comfortably beat Mary Immaculate Girls School (MIG) (Borivli) 3-0 to register their first victory in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) girls' U-16 Division I inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday.
Most of the Apostolic players play for their school's hockey team too, and have been playing in the MSSA's U-16 (Panchgani Old Boys Cup) hockey tournament for the past two days prior to their match against MIG.
As the tie panned out, Apostolic's Gazalla Shaikh opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a fine finish from outside the box. Lynn Dharmai scored from close range in the 10th minute with an assist from Florian Pereira. Sana Khan completed the scoring in the 20th minute when her innocuous cross somehow ended up in the back of the net.
'Good combination'
Yesterday's match was their third on the trot and their coach Cosmos Vaz, who is also one of their hockey coaches, was understandably worried prior to the game.
"Most of the girls that played today (Monday) are also in the school's hockey team and they had to play for the past two days in the hockey tournament. So, there was fatigue throughout the team. Of course, there were concerns, but we played really well and some of the combinations play were really good."
Gazalla, who is also part of the hockey team, was worried about fatigue running in the squad.
"Before the match, we were worried. I only played hockey on one of the days, but still it was tiring out there. I am happy we got the win."
Vaz was all praise for his side and waxed lyrical about the goals, which he believed were all top draw and also talked about his team's chances in the tournament.
"All the goals were fantastic. Some from outside the box and some with good combination play. If we win all our remaining games, we can qualify for knockouts based on the goal difference," said Vaz.
