It’s Loyola H.S v/s The Bishops School in finals

Pune, 29th July 2023: Hosts Loyola H.S will square off with The Bishop’s School, Camp for maximum honours in the Loyola Football Cup powered by Tata Autocomp.

At the Loyola H.S ground, Pashan, here on Saturday, both teams had contrasting results to set up a final-day showdown.

The tournament, organised by the Ex Loyola Students Network (ELAN) and Loyola High School, Pune saw The Bishop’s H.S down St. Vincent’s H.S (Under-12 and 16) twice and later J.N Petit Technical H.S (Under-14). Likewise, Loyola H.S ousted Hutchings H.S (Under-12 and 14) and pushed out Blue Ridge (Under-16).

The Bishop’s School, Camp struck at death to dash St.Vincent’s H.S hopes 3-2 in a brilliant comeback win.

In a dingdong battle. St. Vincent’s H.S went ahead via Aryan Suryavanshi (41st) which Iqbal Shaikh (42nd) levelled (1-1). Next up The Bishop’s School had Aariz Shaikh (50th) give his school the lead, but Neel Sengupta (52nd) made it 3-3 for St.Vincent’s H.S.

Into added time a third-minute dramatic goal settled the match. Off a free-kick, St.Vincent’s H.S’s Aryan Suryavanshi had the crossbar come in the way. In the same move, The Bishop’s School played the ball ahead which the St. Vincent’s H.S defence failed to clear and instead helped Iqbal Shaikh capatalise and net the winner.

The Under-14 section had The Bishop’s School make shortwork of J.N Petit Technical H.S 3-0 with a goal each from Joshua Songate (28th), Rehan Jaipuri (32nd) and Arjun Deshpande (50+1).

The day began with The Bishop’s School bagging the first semifinal slot with a 3-1 victory over St. Vincent’s H.S in the Under-12 section.

A brace, which included a penalty-kick conversion, by Hitaansh Khatri (6th, 17th – pen.) and a lone strike by Param Bedmutha (40+2) fashioned the win. For St. Vincent’s H.S Joel Cherian (29th) reduced the margin.

The afternoon session belonged to Loyola H.S.

First-up, the hosts fought Hutchings H.S 4-3 via the sudden-death in the Under-12 section.

After a goalless (0-0) regulation time it was Anurag Parasnis, Austin James, Abheer Patil who netted for Loyola H.S and likewise Aharshi Hazra, Parth Patil, Shivraj Ghuge scored for Hutchings H.S which left the score at 2-2.

In the sudden-death Medhansh Lingam scored for Loyola H.S, while Hutchings H.S Vivaan Pillay penalty-kick was saved by Agastya Dasmana to end the match 4-3.

Later, in the Under-14’s category Loyola H.S logged a 4-1 win over Hutchings H.S. Param Kulkarni (18th), Parth Shinde (20th), Rutvik More (29th) and Ayush Chavan (50+1) netted for Loyola H.S.

Hutchings H.S pulled one back through Varun Thiruvalluvan (39th).

The last semifinal was decided in the Under-16 section with Loyola H.S having it easy against Blue Ridge Public School 4-0.

A collective effort by Vedant Gupta (13th), Vedant Kamble (23rd), Atharva Sonawane (37th) and Roodra Shelar (43rd) was enough for them to book a final berth.

RESULTS (all Semifinals)

Under-12: The Bishop’s School, Camp: 3 (Hitaansh Khatri 6th, 17th – pen.; Param Bedmutha 40+2) bt St. Vincent’s H.S: 1 (Joel Cherian 29th)

Under-14: The Bishop’s School, Camp: 3 (Joshua Songate 28th, Rehan Jaipuri 32nd; Arjun Deshpande 50+1) bt J.N Petit Technical H.S: 0

Under-16: The Bishop’s School, Camp: 3 (Iqbal Shaikh 43rd, 60+2; Aariz Shaikh 50th) bt St. Vincent’s H.S: 2 (Aryan Suryavanshi 41st; Neel Sengupta 52nd)

Under-12: Loyola H.S: 0 (3,1) (Anurag Parasnis, Austin James, Abheer Patil, Medhansh Lingam) bt Hutchings H.S: 0 (3,0) (Aharshi Hazra, Parth Patil, Shivraj Ghuge)

Under-14: Loyola H.S: 4 (Param Kulkarni 18th, Parth Shinde 20th, Rutvik More 29th, Ayush Chavan 50+1) bt Hutchings H.S: 1 (Varun Thiruvalluvan 39th)

Under-16: Loyola H.S: 4 (Vedant Gupta 13th, Vedant Kamble 23rd, Atharva Sonawane 37th, Roodra Shelar 43rd) bt Blue Ridge Public School: 0