Hosts Nashik DFA riding on the brilliance of attacking striker Ritika Singh who struck a double hat-trick charged to a emphatic 11-0 win against Ratnagiri DFA in a second round match of the WIFA Inter-District Girl’s Under-17 football tournament, played at the Minatai Thakare Stadium, Nashik on Saturday.
Ritika received excellent support from teammates Manisha Barai and Aditi Gadekar, both contributing two goals each and one from Grishma Kothari to complete the big win.
Earlier in the day, Thane DFA produced another good combined performance and easily defeated Solapur DFA by a comfortable 5-0 margin in another second round encounter.
Nashik dominated the match from the outset and Ritika immediately made her presence felt, striking the opening goal in the very second minute to open the floodgates. The Ratnagiri girls stung by that early setback tried to put up a fight and Nashik had to wait for a further 10 minutes to double the lead through Manisha and thereafter scored at regular intervals to open up a 6-0 half-time lead.
On resumption, Nashik continued in the same attacking vein and added five more goals with Ritika scoring four of the goals to round-off the winning margin.
In the earlier match, Thane encountered initial resistance from the Solapur girls and finally managed to break the deadlock towards the end of the first with Akshara Mishra and Veena Dalvi scoring a goal each in quick succession.
After the change of ends, the Thane girls maintained their dominance and struck thrice during this period to secure another fluent win. Lavanya Khatwani, Angelina Mascarenhas, and Gauri Chavan, all netted a goal each to complete the winning scoreline.
Results: Thane DFA 5 (Akshara Mishra, Veena Dalvi, Lavanya Khatwani, Angelina Mascarenhas, Gauri Chavan) beat Solapur DFA 0.
Nashik DFA 11 (Ritika Singh 6, Manisha Barai 2, Aditi Gadekar 2, Grishma Kothari) beat Ratnagiri DFA 0.