Tuesday, February 23, 2016

La Salle, UST take up top two spots in UAAP men's football

Men's football matches Thursday at the Moro Lorenzo Field:

1pm. – Ateneo vs UP
3pm – UE vs Adamson

The surprising resurgence of the University of Santo Tomas continued on Sunday night at McKinley-Hill stadium, putting up an impressive 3-1 victory over National University.

After a goalless first half, Ronald Batisla-Ong managed to put the Golden Booters ahead in the 51st minute. It was then followed by a brace from Renz Gumban in a span of four minutes, starting in the 72nd minute.

UST also managed to keep the duo of Paolo Salenga and Nico Macapal in check all game, led by keeper Zaldy Abraham saving numerous scoring chances, especially early on in the match.

It was only on the final kick of the game, care of Darwin Regala, that the Bulldogs could break through against the Tiger Booters' back line.

The victory puts UST in solo second place with eight points, just two behind La Salle in the football leaderboard. The loss keeps NU at seven points, dropping them down to third place.

The Green Booters moved on top of the league after their 2-1 triumph over Far Eastern University in the highly anticipated finals rematch on Sunday afternoon.

Head Coach Hans Smit's judgment paid off once again, inserting substitute Carlos Joseph in the 74th minute, who would then take advantage of RJ Joyel being off his line by heading the ball coming off a Jhoguev Ybanez clearance over the FEU keeper's head and into the net in the 82nd minute.

La Salle moved ahead in the 33rd minute from the penalty spot, with Greggy Yang forcing Joyel to guess wrong to score the opening goal of the match. FEU would then equalize a couple minutes into the second half, as Rico Andes claimed solo leadership in the goalscoring ranking with his fourth of the season though a header off a Paolo Bugas free kick.

Team captain Gelo Diamante expressed pride with how the team performed, from the starters to the substitutes. He added that they wanted to continue their performance from last season.

The loss puts the defending champions in solo fourth at five points, one ahead of UP.

The Maroon booters had secured the first win of the season with a 2-0 win over the University of the East on Saturday afternoon. Also securing their first win of the season is Ateneo, who thrashed Adamson, 4-0, on Saturday night.

The Falcons managed to keep the Blue Eagles scoreless in the first half, but a Mikko Mabanag strike in the 48th minute opened things up. Seven minutes later, Jeremiah Rocha would double the lead. True freshman Jarvey Gayoso and Mashiu Yoshioka would ice the game late for the JP Merida-coached side.

The losses keep the newest side to UAAP football at the bottom of the table with zero points.

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