Radhika Vyas inspires Arya Vidya Mandir to victory

RSB Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu celebrate their win over Cathedral & John Connon, Fort, in the MSSA under-14 girls football final recently

Radhika Vyas, 12, the spearhead of RSB Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) attack, inspired her school to an authoritative 2-0 victory against Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) in the girls' under-14 Div-I final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament 2022-23, played at Cooperage on Wednesday.

Team effort

The Arya Vidya Mandir girl played with greater intent and created better chances. Norah Bhattacharya, who scored the second goal, skipper Stuti Kothari, Vamika Udeshi, Rhea Murudkar and Radhika along with their teammates combined nicely and that helped the Juhu team dominate the match and emerge worthy winners.

The Arya Vidya Mandir schoolgirls went on the offensive from the outset, but their hasty approach and lack of coordination saw them miss several goal-scoring chances. Cathedral goalkeeper Naisha Jain played well and made some timely saves to deny the rival strikers from finding the net in the first half.

Deadlock broken

However, after the change of ends, Arya Vidya Mandir broke the deadlock when Stuti's cross from the left was headed home by Radhika in the 10th minute of the second session. Three minutes later, Norah after receiving a diagonal pass from Vamika, coolly tapped in the second goal.

Earlier, Bombay Scottish (Mahim) scored once in each half through their prolific goal-scorer Samridhi Naik to overcome Dhirubhai Ambani School (Bandra) by a 2-0 margin in the third place match.

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Samirdhi scored the opening goal a minute before the half-time whistle and then doubled the lead, striking the second goal in the 12th minute of the second period to secure the bronze medal for the Mahim schoolgirls.