After failed attempts from indirect drills, Sanjana sounded the board with a direct hit from another short corner to give St Teresa's a first half 1-0 lead
Sanjana Salunkhe (right) of St Teresa's dribbles past a Convent Girls player during the MSSA U-14 Div I semis yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
Diminutive short corner specialist Sanjana Salunkhe converted a penalty corner in each half to help St Teresa's Convent (Santacruz) overcome Convent Girls (Prabhadevi) 2-1 in the girls U-14 Div I semi-finals of the MSSA-organised inter-school hockey tournament at St Stanislaus ground yesterday.
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After failed attempts from indirect drills, Sanjana sounded the board with a direct hit from another short corner to give St Teresa's a first half 1-0 lead. In the second half, Sanjana once again hit the target from a short corner. The Convent Girls fought on gamely and were rewarded with a late consolation goal when Blossom Britto scored from a penalty corner variation.
'Credit to teammates'
"I was confident of scoring, but we could only convert two of the eight penalty corners. Initially, we tried different variations, but it did not work, so Tony Pinto sir told me to take direct hits and I succeed in scoring which helped us win. But I give full credit to my teammates as it was perfect teamwork that saw us through.
We will now focus on winning the final against Carmel of St Joseph (Malad) and complete a grand double as our senior team won the girls U-16 title," Sanjana told mid-day.
Earlier, in the first semi-final, Carmel of St Joseph rode on Samaria Pereira's strike to defeat St Elias (Khar) 1-0. The boys final will be contested between St Stanislaus and Don Bosco (Matunga), both coasting to easy semi-final victories.
Stanislaus blank Don Bosco
Powered by Jayden Pereira's hat-trick, St Stanislaus blanked Don Bosco International (Matunga) 7-0. Shaad Sayyed scored two and Shayne D'Costa and Zeal Michael netted one each to complete the Stanislaus's win.
Meanwhile, Don Bosco defeated Dr Antonio Da Silva (Dadar) 5-0 with Aditya Kabre scoring a brace while Dipesh Poojarri, Atharv Bandekar and Yashar More, all chipping in with one apiece.
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