Maris Stella College came from a goal down in the second half to defeat St.Joseph Vaz College 2-1 in the Sri Lanka Schools Association U17 championship final at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Although St.Joseph Vaz had clear domination in the first half of this match, it was the boys of Maris Stella who fought hard and earned the championship.
Lahiru double gives Maris Stella the division I Championship
The first goal of the match was scored by St.Joseph Vaz no.07 Kavindu Bindushan as he fended off two defenders while looping the ball over the hasty goalkeeper’s head for a well timed goal.
Both teams had close encounters with each other trying to retain the ball on the muddy field; which proved to be rather difficult given the weather conditions.
St.Joseph Vaz had a more control with the ball in the first half with more goal scoring opportunities than their opponents but lacked the finishing.
Maris Stella received the first yellow card of the match with an unfortunate foul play, evidently due to the muddy ground conditions. With the resulting free kick, Joseph Vaz almost scored a second goal but was unsuccessful with the try.
A rejuvenated Maris Stella team came onto the field, as the referee kicked off the second half, striking towards goal with every chance they got.
They played a more reckless game than in the first half which clearly proved to do them good as they went on to score two goals by the end of the match.
The first goal coming off the boot of Karan Avishka as he found himself in front of a wide open goal with only the goalkeeper to beat and successfully found the corner of the goal for an equalizer.
With game tied both teams were keeping each other on their feet to score the second and winning goal.
It was Mohomad Sajid of Maris Stella College who got a penalty and sealed the deal for his team with the last kick of the game.
ThePapare.com Player of the Match: Karan Avishka Rajapaksa
Schools Association Player of the Final: Karan Avishka Rajapaksa
Schools Association Best Goalkeeper of the Final: Pramuditha Prakash
