A dominant 9-0 victory over East Bengal FC in the quarter-final leads Sethu FC to their 3rd consecutive IWL semifinal in the history of the club.
A 9-goal thriller quarter-final saw young Assamese forward, Apurna Narzary opening the scoring for Sethu FC in the 13th minute after a failed attempt for a goal in the 2nd minute itself which was blocked by Melody Chanu of East Bengal FC women’s team. Apurna was creating more danger in the opponent’s half by releasing more and more chances from her side.
In the 21st minute, A successful cross from Priyadharshini from the left wing was headed in by Apurna because of the EBFC W goalkeeper Melody Chanu’s poor vision in predicting the flight of the ball, Helping Apurna scoring the second goal of this match which was followed by a beautiful left-footer goal from Kajol D’Souza who tripled the lead for Sethu FC.
The first half ended 4-0 as captain Priyangka Devi found the back of the net just before the end of the half. The East Bengal FC players were really struggling in this match as they faced a blazing Sethu FC side that did not stop scoring when they scored 6 more in the second half when Apurna scored 4 and Ivy Faith added her name to the score sheet to settle it all.
Gokulam Kerala FC W earns their spot in the semifinals after an exciting penalty shootout
Two-time Hero IWL champions Gokulam Kerala FC conceded in the first minute itself as Odisha FC Women’s team captain Bala Devi opened the scoring for the club. We saw a complete Odisha FC dominance in the first half until Roja Devi scored her first goal of the match for the Gokulam Kerala FC Women’s team just before the end of the First Half.
The second half started negatively for GKFC W as they were down to 10 players as Ranjana Chanu received her second yellow card of the match and was sent off in the 45th minute. There were still plenty of chances available for both Gokulam and Odisha to take the lead but were unlucky in converting those chances.
Penalty Shootout
Ashalata Devi scored the first penalty in the shootout for Gokulam without much struggle but Anju Tamang missed Odisha FC’s first chance as Gokulam Kerala FC Ghanaian goalkeeper Beatrice Nketia blocked it. Sabitra Bhandari made no mistake in converting the second chance with much power that even Odisha Goalkeeper Shreya Hooda was not able to save it even though she went in the right direction.
Odisha FC’s Hero IWL run was almost over as their captain Bala Devi missed their second chance and Beatrice once again predicted and blocked the shot. Indumathi scored for Gokulam Kerala FC followed by a miss from Pyari Xaxa and once again we must appreciate Gokulam’s goalkeeper Beatrice for her top-notch performance in this shootout as she saved all three chances of Odisha FC Women’s and saved the day for Gokulam.
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