Rosary College crowned champions of Xavier's Gold Cup

Rosary College Navelim, lifted the Xavier’s Gold Cup with pride after defeating hosts St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa 7-5 via tiebreaker at St. Xavier’s College ground on Thursday.

Rosary’s feat is commendable considering that they were playing in their opponents den and in front of a hundreds of St. Xavier’s supporters. At the same time, St. Xavier’s too put up an impressive performance despite of playing with their second string players. Keeping an eye on the preparations for the Goa University tournament, St. Xavier’s coach Fausto Lobo preferred resting his star players to make way for his second team players to prove their worth.

Nevertheless, the match had all the elements of a perfect entertaining final. The score read 2-2 at the end of regulation time.

Rosary were the ones to grab the lead first. In the stoppage time of the first half, playmaker Clencio Pinto neatly struck the ball from a considerable distance to beat St. Xavier’s keeper Agnelo.

Changing ends, St. Xavier’s looked like a transformed side. The home team created as series of attacks at the rival citadel. Ultimately it was the brilliance of Lesten Martins that not only brought St. Xavier’s on levelled terms but also gave them a 2-1 lead. The midfielder first intelligently headed home Samson Cardoz’s long floater in the 63^rd minute and later converted clinically from a 30-yard free kick in the 76^th minute.

From then on St. Xavier’s seemed to be in total control. However, the youngsters gathered unnecessary pressure towards the dying stages. St. Xavier’s striker Shubham Dessai picked up a red card after a dangerous tackle on Rosary’s Razor Braganza.

With one man down and just a few seconds remaining for the final whistle, St. Xavier’s conceded a goal. Rosary defender Ronald Dias scored the precious equalizer to silence the crowd 2-2.

In the resultant tiebreaker, Rosary held their nerves to walk home victorious. Chief guest Mr. Francis D’Souza, Minister for Urban Development presented the trophies to the winning team. “In such ground conditions I feel you played the best. But there should be discipline. Red card at inter-college level is not acceptable,” Mr. D’Souza said in his address to both the finalists. Guest of honour Mr. Michael Lobo, MLA of Calangute constituency and St. Xavier’s College principal Dr. (Fr.) Walter de Sa were present among other college staff members.

Individual prizes were awarded to the following:

Best defender: Samson Cardoz (St. Xavier’s)

Best forward: Nigel Falcao (Rosary)

Best midfielder: Jason Pereira (Rosary)

Best goalkeeper: Agnelo (St. Xavier’s)

Man of the final: Razor Braganza (Rosary) and Lesten Martins (St. Xavier’s)

 

[slideshow]

 

Pics Courtesy: Rohan Da Costa