The Lionesses put on a brilliant display to outmanoeuvre the Tigresses 7-2 in the final of the Hero U-17 Women’s Championship played at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium on Sunday. The victory also means Alex Ambrose’s side lifts the inaugural Hero U-17 Women’s Championship trophy with a 100% win record.

• Lynda Kom Serto opened the scoring for the Lionesses in the 17^th minute with her fifth goal of the competition.
• Priyanka Sujeesh made it 2-0 almost seconds later.
• Priyangka Devi Naorem made it 3-0 in the 34^th minute and Sumati Kumari added to the tally just three minutes later.
• Lynda made it 5-0 in the 50^th minute before Sumati scored her second of the night in the 54^th minute to make it 6-0.
• Substitute Sai Sankhe added to the Lionesses’ tally in the 69^th minute.
• Nisha and Karen Estrocio pulled back two late goals for the Tigresses.

After a closely-contested first five minutes or so, the Lionesses slowly began growing into the game, particularly with Priyangka Devi Naorem providing a nifty outlet down the left flank. With a little help from Lynda Kom Serto and Sumati Kumari, the Lionesses began to slowly but steadily pile on the pressure and won a succession of set pieces.

The Lionesses finally made the phase of domination count in the 17^th minute through Lynda. The attacker was played through on goal by Priyanka Sujeesh and the competition’s highest goal scorer was on her bike instantly, outpacing three chasing defenders and slotting the ball past Tigresses’ goalkeeper Tanu to score his fifth of the competition and first of the night.

Lynda Kom runs through the defense and drills it past the keeper to get her 5th goal of the competition.

What about her celebration? 🥳🙌#GroundsKnowNoGender pic.twitter.com/xCs9i4woR1

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) November 17, 2019

The very next minute, the provider of the opener – Sujeesh – turned scorer as she turned in a pin-point Daisy Castro cross from the right to make it 2-0.

Jolted by the double blow in quick succession, Priya PV’s Tigresses tried to fight back and created some lovely moves down the right with Amisha Baxla and Karen Estrocio combining well. Lionesses meanwhile kept carving out their own opportunities and Lynda came close to expending their lead in the 27^th minute but Tanu was at the right place at the right time on this occasion to deny the striker.

Seven minutes later, however, there was nothing Tanu could do as the impressive Priyangka tried her luck from range and beat the Tigresses’ custodian with a fine grounded effort. Sumati Kumari added another one to the scoreboard just three minutes later with a fine finish from a tight angle. The first-half ended with the Lionesses 4-0 up.

Five minutes after the restart, Daisy almost teed up Priyangka for the fifth but Tanu’s instinctive save denied the Lionesses momentarily. Lynda, however, made no mistakes from the follow up and made it 5-0. Lynda could have grabbed her hat-trick in the 54^th minute but Tanu read her attempted chip well. The loose ball though fell to Sumati who turned it into the open net.

The Tigresses could have pulled one back around the 68-minute mark but Manisha Naik’s shot ended up rattling the crossbar. Almost immediately at the other end substitute Sai Sankhe gracefully marauded forward and finished brilliantly to make the scoreline 7-0.

Another beautiful run and an even better finish 🔝👏#GroundsKnowNoGender pic.twitter.com/GJu4AilpnP

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) November 17, 2019

The Tigresses finally managed to make an inroad after Nisha scored from an indirect free-kick in the 75^th minute. Karen made it 7-2 around the 80^th minute to reduce the deficit further. The match finally ended 7-2 in the Lionesses’ favour.

Tournament Awards:

Player of the Tournament: Lynda Kom Serto

Runners Up: Tigresses

Champions: Lionesses