PANAJI
St Alex Higher Secondary School overpowered St Xavier’s Higher Secondary School 3-1 to enter the Senior Boys finals of Reliance Foundation Youth Sports. In the summit clash, St Alex will face Government Higher Secondary School, who beat Guardian Angel Higher Secondary 1-0 in the second semi-final. In the College Boys finals, SS Dempo College will clash with Rosary College of Commerce and Arts.
St Alex and St Xavier's started the match with attacking intent with brilliant passing movement from the two teams. The first chance of the game fell to St Xavier’s when a long ball dissected the defence, putting a forward through on the goal but he missed a great opportunity to take his team in front. The breakthrough finally came when St Xavier’s number 9 was brought down on the edge of the box and the resultant freekick was beautifully curled into the top corner over the wall and past the goalkeeper by Joston Cardozo in the 31st minute.
It took St Alex only a minute to equalize though after some brilliant dribbling by a winger who put in the ball across goal for Elson Cardozo to level scores. St Alex quickly turned the entire game around and were the dominant team towards the end of the first half. In the 41st minute, Johnny Fernandes lit up the field when he scored one of the best goals of the tournament when he rifled a shot from 35 yards out into the top right corner as St Alex went into half-time leading by two goals.
The second half started with St Xavier's pushing men forward to get an equalizer. They had a couple of great chances near the hour mark but were denied from close range by a last ditch tackle by St Alex centre backs. St Alex also had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping them in the game when a stunning strike from St Xavier’s number 6, heading into the top corner was parried by the keeper who then recovered quickly to knock the ball out for a corner.
St Alex managed to shut shop in the 87th minute when Larry Mascarenhas scored another great goal into the top right corner to give his side a two-goal advantage with only three minutes left on the clock.
The day’s action also saw Govt. Higher Secondary School beat Guardian Angel by a solitary strike from their number 5 Cyrus. The College Boys semi-finals were also played on the day where SS Dempo College smashed Damodar College Margao 6-1 with Akiraj Martins scoring four goals to take the match ball home. Dempo set up a final with Rosary College of Commerce & Arts who produced a major upset by beating Fr Agnel College of Arts & Commerce 6-1 thanks to a hat-trick by Aaron D’Silva.
The City Finals will be held at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on November 19 before the City Champions head for National Championships.
RESULTS
RFYS Senior Boys (semis): St Xavier’s HSS 1 St Alex HSS 3, Guardian Angel HSS 0 Govt. HSS 1; RFYS College Boys (semis): Damodar College, Margao 1 SS Dempo College 6, Rosary College of Commerce & Arts 6 Fr Agnel College of Commerce & Arts 1
