St Xavier's Higher Secondary School, Mapusa edged past Rosary Higher Secondary School, Navelim 3-2 in a thrilling State final of the girl's U-17 Subroto Mukherjee inter-school football tournament at the SAG artificial turf grounds, Fatorda on Tuesday. Both the teams were tied 2-2 at the break.
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Both the teams displayed attacking brand of soccer and in the very 4th minute, striker Somaaya Mukundan rocked Mapusa early with a fine strike. Stung by the setback, St Xavier's regrouped quickly and took the fight to the rival camp and in the 7th minute, Khusboo Saundatikar sent home the ball to put her team on equal terms.
Stunned by the equaliser, Rosary came roaring back and in the 18th minute, in-form striker Somaaya Mukundan was in the thick of action and regained the lead with a stiff shot that crashed into the net
to register her brace.
However, their joy was short lived when Divya Sangodkar neutralized the lead.
The second session turned out to be livelier with both the teams showing attacking intent. Sushmita Jadhav struck the match winner to send her supporters into tizzy. Thereafter St Xavier's conjured one scoring chance but rival defender effected a goalline save to deny Khusboo Saundatikar sure goal.
After trailing 2-3, Rosary did make some concerted efforts to breach the St Xavier's defence again and continued desperately to fetch the equalizer but striker Somaaya Mukundan had to many bodies and legs to deal with. St Xavier's eventually trooped home 3-2 winners and earned a ticket to New Delhi .
