No ground, no problem

So what if they don’t have a ground to practice? Mary Immaculate Girls HS (MIG, Borivli) still managed to win the MSSA-MI Girls U-16 tournament by beating Carmel of St Joseph (Malad) 1-0 in the final at Azad Maidan on Monday. This was their second straight title.

The team from Borivli doesn’t have a mud ground to practice on.

“We practice on the concrete ground in our school and sometimes we play at the St. Lawrence grounds near our school. It’s the kids’ determination that helps us win titles,” said Luke Rozario, coach of the Borivli team.

On the concrete ground the kids face problems like they cannot afford to fall down and also cannot wear shoes with studs, Rozario added.

In the final, a hand ball in the 10th minute by Ankita Chijwani of Carmel gave MIG a penalty and Aditi Shetty made no mistake from the spot, giving her team the lead that ultimately remained the difference between both sides.

However, Rozario said that his team could have scored at least two more goals. He said, “We should have been up 3-0 at halftime, but we missed too many chances. That said, I take no credit away from the opposite side who kept giving us jitters.”

Aditi has scored a total of eight goals in the tournament including four in the semifinals alone. She  said she had taken up football as a an eight-year-old just because her twin brother played the game.

“I just wanted to prove that girls are capable of doing whatever boys did. And, I loved the game from the moment I started playing,” Aditi said after the win.

Throughout the tournament, MIG played true to their tag of defending champions, even blanking Apostolic Carmel (Bandra) 8-0 in the semis.