Maharashta girls defeat Goa to emerge champions

The Maharashtra girls won the OORJA — CAPFs Under-19 Football Talent Hunt (Phase-II) Tournament in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Bhagyashree Dalvi’s superb lone strike enabled the state girls to prevail over Goa 1-0 in the final.

In an evenly contested final, junior international footballer Bhagyashree gave Maharashtra the breakthrough when she found the back of the net inside the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Thereafter, Maharashtra, with some resolute defending kept the Goan attackers in check and managed to hang on to their slender lead to come out trumps. Earlier in the semi-finals, Maharashtra girls brushed aside the challenge from hosts Gujarat coasting to a 5-2 victory.

The feature of Maharashtra’s win were the twin strikes from Reetika Sahani, while Sonali Chemete, Naomi Fernandes and Aishwarya Gadekar added one each to complete the winning tally for the team.

Ayushi Patel and Mansi Wakhariya scored a goal each for the home team. In the other semi-final, Goa tamed Andaman and Nicobar 9-0.