Radhika fires as champions AVM rally to beat St Xavier’s

AVM Juhu’s Radhika Vyas (centre) tackles Namrata Naik (left) of St Xavier’s, Mira Road, during their MSSA U-16 Div-I match at St Francis D’Assisi ground, Borivli, yesterday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Continuing their fine form from this year's mid-day Ranis of Rink - Mumbai's only U-16 inter-school rink football tournament for girls - Smt RSB AVM (Juhu) launched the defence of their MSSA inter-school girls U-16 football tournament in roaring fashion with a 3-1 victory over St Xavier's (Mira Road) at the St Francis D'Assisi ground, Borivli, on Thursday.

Earlier this year, the Juhu side had displayed fine teamwork combined with some individual brilliance to successfully retain their mid-day Ranis of Rink title at the Neville D'Souza turf, Bandra, beating Rustomjee Cambridge (Dahisar) in the final. And it is these very attributes that helped them deliver the goods in their MSSA season-opening encounter.

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Undeterred by the heavy ground conditions caused by the incessant rains over the last few days, the defending champions did well to come from behind and score thrice.

Stunned by an early reversal when Prisha Faldu found the back of the net for St Xavier's, the Juhu outfit quickly regrouped and steadily controlled the proceedings while their opponents seemed rather keen on defending their slender lead.

The chief architect of the Juhu side's resurgence was the diminutive Radhika Vyas, who, apart from scoring a brilliant goal, was a constant threat to the opposition with her speedy runs down the flanks.

At half-time, the Juhu outfit were trailing by a goal, but had shown enough signs that they would bounce back after the break. And that's exactly what happened. Substitute Stuti Kothari converted a penalty to level things early in the second half after which a fine solo effort by Aarya Banjara saw them double their lead. Radhika then sealed the fate of the match with a fine finish to make it 3-1.