Indian Women's League: Sethu on cloud nine, kickstart edge Kolhapur City

Sandhiya and Karthika scored hat-tricks for the defending champions.

Sethu FC registered a gargantuan 9-0 victory over BBK DAV in their Indian Women’s League (IWL) Group A fixture on Thursday to get their campaign back on track. The defending champions were stunned by Krypsha FC in their previous outing, but the Madurai outfit displayed great character to emerge from the shackles of defeat. The match was one-way traffic through and through, with two quickfire goals from Sandhiya and K. Sumithra, both strikes being a carbon copy of one another, gave Sethu a two-goal cushion inside 18 minutes. It was Sandhiya again who pounced upon a loose ball inside the 18-yard box and rounded the keeper to make it 3-0 in the last minute of the half as Sethu went into the breather with a convincing 3-0 lead. [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] Karthika’s left-footed drive into the bottom corner made it 4-0 in the 50th minute, which came before Sumithra’s dazzling solo effort, in which she went past five BBK defenders to make it five at the hour mark. Sandhiya completed her hat-trick in the 81st minute, yet again pouncing on a loose ball and displaying nerves of steel -- rounding the keeper yet again to make it 6-0. The floodgates continued to crumble as Karthika made it 7-0 with an audacious chip from outside the box. Just a minute later, substitute Kunti Kumari made it 8-0 after she was fed on goal by Sandhiya. A jump in time added the ninth as Karthika joined the hat-trick club by scoring her third from an 89th minute corner. The match ended soon after as Sethu FC registered a monumental 9-0 victory.

Karya P hands Kickstart the points against Kolhapur City

Kickstart FC registered a narrow 1-0 victory over Kolhapur City in their Indian Women’s League (IWL) Group A fixture on Thursday. Kavya P. scored the solitary goal of the match, in what was a moment of mesmerising brilliance. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="RELATED NEWS | ARTICL CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] The first half remained goal-less as both teams created chances, with Kickstart enjoying greater opportunities to score. However, some fine goalkeeping from Kolhapur keeper Shreya Hooda ensured the scoreline remained level. Kolhapur did well to defend in compact spaces, reading the runs of Kickstart’s attacking duo of Kavya and Renu quite well. They seemed to have found the formula to neutralise the offense but struggled to strike back due to the lack of creativity in the final third. The deadlock was broken in the 68th minute, when Kavya, in a moment of sheer individual brilliance, left five defenders at bay and with only the goalkeeper to beat, she did so with aplomb to put Kickstart ahead. That moment turned out to be the difference on the day as Kickstart registered their second win in Group A. The result sees them rise to third in the table with six points, while Kolhapur remain fifth with one point, still elusive of their first victory.