In a day of mixed sun and rain, the Memorial Cup 2013 Main Draw continued with the first match being played by Marathi Vidyaniketan and Second Qualifier KLE International School. Early in the match, Saurav Savekar of Marathi Vidyaniketan opened the score in the 7th minute. It was a well balanced match with both teams fighting hard to score a goal. KLE defended well and Rahul Patil managed to score a goal for KLE in the 18th minute. Although Marathi Vidyaniketan had a number of chances to score goals, they were defended well by the goal-keeper of KLE Siddhanth Neelagoudar. However, in the 23rd minute, Sohan Kadolkar scored a goal for Marathi Vidyaniketan. But in the very next minute, Musharaf Choudhary scored a direct goal for KLE. In the second half, both teams fought hard to score but it was Sohan Kadolkar of Marathi Vidyaniketan who managed to score his second goal of the day in the 45th minute. Marathi Vidyaniketan won the match 3 – 2.
In an equally interesting second match of the day, Dnyan Prabodhan Mandir High School played against Mahila Vidyalaya Mandal School. It was interesting to see both teams defending well and fighting hard to score. It was Anirudh Ranoji who opened the score of the match for MVM in the 10th minute. Both teams displayed excellent defensive football skills and neither team allowed the other team to score any goals in the remainder of the match. MVM defended their lead well and won the match 1 – 0.
A very exciting third match of the day saw Beynon Smith High School play against St. Xavier’s High School. Early on in the match itself, an unfortunate miss of the Beynon Smith goal-keeper allowed Rahul Goni of St. Xavier’s to strike a goal in the 13th minute. But in the 16th minute, Anok Kadmulla of Beynon Smith was able to convert a straight hit shot into a goal. The excitement continued on in the second half with both teams stepping their defences. Despite aggressive attempts by both teams to score a goal neither team was able to score and the match ended in a draw 1 – 1.
Tomorrow, Saturday, 3rd August, the first match at 2:30 PM will be played by KLS School and Herwadkar School. The second match at 3:30 PM will be played by Cantonment School and KLE School and the third match will be played by Islamiya School and Dnyan Prabodhan School.