MARGAO: Manipur, Odisha, Maharashtra and Delhi won their respective matches at the Junior Nationals championship for U-18 Girl’s, organized by Goa Football Association in collaboration with AIFF, on Friday.
In the first match at Raia panchayat ground, Raia, Manipur demolished Puducherry 21-1.
Manipur took the lead in the very third minute and continued pounding the opposition’s goal till the end of regulation time. N Ratanbala Devi and Kashmina combined well upfront for Manipur and scored seven goals each for a total of 14 goals between the pair.
H Daya Devi scored a fine hat-trick and S Ranjana Channu scored a brace. Y Hemolata Devi also got onto the score-sheet with a solitary goal.
Puducherry scored a consolation goal in the 76 minute through N Amsavalli.
Odisha hammered Karnataka 11-0 in another match at Rosary sports complex, Navelim.
Odisha progressed into the quarter-finals as Jasbamani Samad and Jabamani Tudu scored a hat-trick each.
Anima Malik netted a brace and Swarna Priya Nayak, Banya Kabiraj, Sasmita Behera scored a goal apiece for Odisha.
In the third match, Maharashtra edged past Haryana 5-3 via the tie-breaker after they were locked 1-1 at full time at Raia panchayat ground, Raia.
The teams entered the match with a must win situation, both having won their first match with a margin of 2-0. The winner takes it all scenario called in for some good football action.
Haryana’s custodian stood tall in goal and was continuously driving her team to move forward and create scoring opportunities.
Coming out of the half-time break, both teams looked all the more determined to score and create chances. In the run of play, Bhagyashree Dalvi broke the deadlock in the 79th minute for Maharashtra.
With little time left on the clock, all seemed lost for Haryana but they fought back brilliantly and started pounding the opposition goal.
Their hard work and efforts bore fruit and Haryana got a stunning equalizer in the added minutes of regulation time with a goal from Nisha.
Maharashtra displayed more composure in the tie-breaker with Pooja Dhamal, Anita Shinde and Jyoti Mehra making no mistake from the spot-kick. Poonam Sharma was the lone scorer for Haryana.
In the fourth match, Delhi grounded Meghalaya 4-0, at Rosary sports complex, Navelim.
Anushka Samuel starred for Delhi and scored a fine hat-trick and Mariya Ehreen Khan chipped in with a nice solo effort goal to give Delhi a very convincing 4-0 victory over Meghalaya. Delhi qualified into the quarter-finals.
