Goals galore as Pune grabs the limelight

by Siddharth Yadav January 18, 2019

It rained goals as Pune and Nagpur scored 17 between themselves to enthrall fans at the PDTSA Ground on Thursday. The 2019 WIFA Inter-District Championship Sub-Junior Girls is hosted by the Western India Football Association (WIFA). A clutch of teams from Maharashtra is vying for top spot in what is essentially a knockout format.

Day 2 of the tournament bested the opening day in terms of the number of goals scored by the winners and losers. Nineteen goals were scored by the winners with the losers only scoring once. The opening day had a combined total of 12 goals by the winners and one from the losing side. Three games were played — the same as the opening day.

The second day (unlike the first) went without any glitches. The second game was the best as Pune obliterated Amravati 12-0. Urvi Salunkhe scored four goals. Amravati was pinned in their own half throughout the game. Salunkhe’s first and fourth goal – both curled past the keeper – was a joy to watch. Four of Pune’s goals came within the 12th and 16th minute.

Pune – 12 (Urvi Salunkhe (4), Radhika Puranik (2), Piyusha Narke (2), Zahra Unwala (1), Sapna Rajpure (1), Varda Kannal (1), Purva Gaikwad (1)) beat Amravati – 0

Buldana had a shocker as they went down 2-1 to Solapur in the first game. Despite not having the lion’s share of possession Solapur scored when it mattered most. Sakshi Hiwale scored off a second-half penalty for Buldana but by then it was too late. First-half goals from Diksha Ghodge and Saniya Khan ensured that Solapur had the game in the bag. Khan’s was the goal of the game as she lobbed over the keeper with her back to goal.

Solapur – 2 (Diksha Ghodge (1) and Saniya Khan (1) beat Buldana – 1 (Sakshi Hiwale (1))

The third game between Nagpur and Jalgaon witnessed a goal spree. Nagpur eased to a 5-0 win partly helped by an injury to Jalgaon’s regular goalkeeper Rucha Jagtap. Jalgaon was powerless to avoid defeat despite the best efforts of stand-in keeper Vaishnavi Koshti. Muskan Upadhyay and Sneha Vikey scored two goals each. Nagpur missed a penalty in the second half but then it was only a statistic.

Nagpur – 5 (Muskan Upadhyay (2), Sneha Vikey (2) and Anika Payasi (1) beat Jalgaon – 0

The team of the day: Pune
Player of the day: Urvi Salunkhe (Pune)

Stay tuned for Day 3 of the 2019 WIFA Inter-District Championship Sub-Junior Girls where hopefully we would see more goals galore at Boisar on Friday.