The energetic striker Ruhi made her presence felt when she picked up a weak defensive clearance just outside the area and charged ahead before deftly slotting past St Mary's goalkeeper Monisha Bichve in the 12th minute
Ruhi Raghavan (right) of Cathedral & John Connon yesterday. Pic/Sneha Kharabe
Ruhi Raghavan, 12, scored a hat-trick to steer Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) to a 3-0 win against St Mary's (Mulund) in the girls U-14 Division-I match of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at the Neville D'Souza ground, Bandra yesterday. The energetic striker Ruhi made her presence felt when she picked up a weak defensive clearance just outside the area and charged ahead before deftly slotting past St Mary's goalkeeper Monisha Bichve in the 12th minute.
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Ruhi on a rampage
Ruhi struck the second goal in the 29th minute and 11 minutes later she intercepted a loose ball in the middle of the field and then made a long dash before shooting past the goalkeeper to complete the feat and the margin of victory.
"It feels good to score a hat-trick in my first MSSA match. I always loved football, but started to play only last year and was selected for the U-12 team, but was only a substitute. That's when I decided to work harder in training and improve my skills. I then got selected by coach Jayesh Sir to play in the starting XI for the U-14 team. It's nice to match up to the level of my teammates who have been playing the sport for quite a while," Ruhi told mid-day yesterday.
'Confidence booster'
"This effort [hat-trick] will boost my confidence as I want to continue scoring more often and ensure we win every match and I am keen that we win the MSSA title," Ruhi stated. In other matches, Bombay Scottish (Mahim) recorded a 4-0 victory against Navy Children School (Colaba).
Strikers Shreya Ravuri and Dia Agarwal both combined well to score two goals each and seal the win. Apostolic Carmel (Bandra) and Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) played out a 1-1 draw. Rochelle Mathews was on target for Apostolic Carmel, while Jamnabai scored through Kyra Pallod.
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