St Augustine High School, Nerul girls qualify for state football

The under-14 girls football team of St Augustine High School, Nerul, won the division championship and qualified for the state championship, fourth time in a row. They defeated Arya Vidya Mandir, which was representing Mumbai suburbs in the final. The tournament was held at MSSA ground in Dhobi Talao, in Mumbai.

Hemant Zende, coach, said, “Our team has outplayed the opponents in all three matches we played. Opponent teams could not score a single goal against us.”

In the semi-final, St Augustine defeated Cathedral & John High School, Mumbai by 3-0. All the goals were scored by Reetika Sahani.

“We put pressure throughout the match and did not give them any chance to score against us,” said Zende.

In the final, St Augustine encountered Arya Vidya Mandir, which was representing Mumbai suburbs. The former crushed out the latter by 3-0. Sahani again scored three goals of the match.

With this victory, St Augustine won the division championship and qualified for the state meet fourth time in a row. “We will represent Mumbai division in the state meet which will be held at All Saint School in Bhiwandi, Thane,” said a confident Zende.

St Augustine School has been the state champion for the last two consecutive years. “If we win this year too, it will be our third consecutive state championship,” said Zende.

The team
Riya Tank (goalkeeper), Gauri Prabhu, Jigna Patel, Vanshikha Jadhav, Surabhi Purav, Shrutilakshmi VK, Akanksha Kandalkar (captain), Poonam Kharade, Shreya Jagdale, Sneha Khatayat, Reetika Sahani, Yashmita Mhatre, Casendra Alloysious, Anula Patekar, Sakshi Waghmare, Shreya Salunke, Firdous Shaikh, Vandana Gowda, Annette Mascarenhas (manager) and Hemant Zende (coach)