Stanislaus, Bosco enter final

Hosts Don Bosco were 7-0 winners in the other semi-final against Stanislaus B, comprising u-12 players carrying learner’s licences. The losers should feel heartened by their 2-0 win over traditional rivals St Andrew’s in the quarter-finals.

Assisi and Stanislaus had split the two inter-school u-14 titles last year, the Donnelly Cup going to Assisi due to the good work done by the Kharekar brothers Rajesh and Rakesh. With Rajesh moving on to the u-16 team, the mantle of centre-half fell on Rakesh, right-out last year.Rakesh was uncomfortable in the new position, often playing too deep in his own half to instrument an attack. Coach Jaswant Singh said, “We had no other option. Unfortunately, Rakesh did not open out, was too frightened.” Naturally, the switch also put a crimp in Assisi’s offence.

The first goal came in the 13th minute, through a penalty stroke for an illegal check. Carl Mascarenhas made no mistake. Four minutes later, left half Vikram Noronha, who impressed with his ball control, sent a through ball to Jonathan Fernandes at the top of the circle. The keen-eyed Jonathan was wrong-footed, but managed a reverse off balance to Rohan Thomas, who gleefully deflected in.

Graden Murzello should have scored for Assisi in the 22nd minute. He shot wide of a yawning goalpost from less than ten feet away ! Graden made amends in the 49th minute, when he dribbled 25 yards past two defenders and scored.Earlier, Julius D’Souza’s hat-trick (1st, 2nd, 27th) laid the foundation for Bosco’s win. Julius is the leadingscorer of the tournament, with 17 goals from five matches.

Results (semis): Don Bosco, Matunga 7 (Julius D’Souza 3, Andre Colaco 2, Afroz Choudhary, Elroy Afonso) bt Stanislaus B 0; Stanislaus A 2 (Rohan Thomas, Carl Mascarenhas) bt Assisi 1 (Graden Murzello).

St Joseph’s in semis

St Joseph’s, Vikhroli and St Francis Xavier’s, Kanjurmarg entered the semi-final of the girls u-14 MSSA-Colgate inter-school hockey tournament at St Stanislaus’ School today. While the Kanjurmarg team prevailed 3-2 over Durello Convent, St Joseph thumped Holy Family, Chembur 4-1.

Results (QF play-off): St Francis Xavier’s 3 (Shweta Sugdhare, Pallavi Bhillare, Harshada Labde) bt Durello Convent 2 (Chriselle Pereira 2); St Joseph’s, Vikhroli 4 (Reena Salian 2, Hazel Correa, Alisha Marques) bt Holy Family 1 (Khyati Solanki).

Dolours score

A brace by Allwyn Lasrado and some strong defence under the bar by Melwyn Naronha saw Dolour’s United beat Brother’s Sports Club, 2-0, in a Division IV, pool Bmatch of the BHA League at Khalsa College today.

Other results: Bombay Republicans 7 (Vivek Gupta 3, Jayesh Jadhav, Baptista D’Souza, Mahesh Lokhande, Bittu Shigroha) bt Khalsa Gymkhana C 1 (Shahnawaz Choudhary).