THE ATENEO Lady Eagles fell to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Archers, 0-3, on Saturday, March 4 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

The Lady Eagles’ first loss of the season pegs the team at 6 points with 2-1-0 record and a -1 goal difference for third place in the standings of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Women’s Football tournament.

The Lady Eagles started off the first fifteen minutes brightly with striker Cam Rodriguez wrecking havoc on the Lady Archer defense and spraying dangerous ground crosses into the DLSU box. The Green and White, however, weathered the early storm and were able to assert their dominance in possession, forcing the Blue and White to defend hard for long periods of time and to rely on counter attacks for their chances.

After an Alexi Arrieta header forced a fingertip save from Ateneo goalkeeper Marianne Caparros in the 28thminute, a shot from distance by the DLSU midfielder rattled the crossbar just a minute after. The Lady Eagles were able to put together a string of promising attacks. In the 33rd minute, a cross from right back Jolly Catedrilla found her sister, left winger Jill Catedrilla open in the box, but the winger was unable to get her half-volley on target. Four minutes later, Rodriguez was able to locate Nona Amoncio on the right wing, but the open winger was called offside as she launched her cross into the box. Moments later, the duo were on a breakaway, but Amoncio’s through ball was a tad long for Rodriguez who just missed out on keeping the ball in play inside the DLSU box.

Just as though the momentum was moving towards the Blue side, it was DLSU that opened the scoring in the 40th minute. A deflected cross from the right flank fell to the lone Lady Archer in the Ateneo box, striker Kyra Dimaandal. Dimaandal directed a precise volley that bounced past Ateneo goalkeeper Mariane Caparros and into right bottom corner to give DLSU a 0-1 lead heading into the interval.

The Taft-based side came out strong in the second half and continued to hold the lion’s share of the ball. They were eventually able to double their advantage in the 55th minute through Nicole Andaya. A headed pass off a throw-in found its way to an open Kyla Inquig in the Ateneo box. Inquig initially lost the ball, but was able to recover and get past Ateneo central defender Isay Sabio to take a powerful shot from close range. Although Caparros dealt with the shot through a quick reaction block, the goalkeeper was unable to corral the ball, allowing Andaya to get on the ball for the tap in. (0-2)

The Lady Archers scored their third of the match to put the game away in the 68th minute. Irish Navaja took one touch to control a pass from the top of the box, and then skillfully chipped the ball over Caparros from the right side of goal and into the left side netting for the clincher. (0-3)

After the match, Ateneo head coach Jay Pee Merida rued his team’s inability to score its chances. “Ang problema lang namin talaga noong game is pag hindi naman na-finish pagdating sa final third. Maraming chance noon first half. (Our problem really during the game was our inability to finish when we got to the final third. We had a lot of chances in the first half.)”, said Merida

The next game for the Lady Eagles will be against the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses on Saturday, March 11 at 5PM at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

Ateneo Starting XI: Caparros (GK), N. Catedrilla, Sabio, Ong, Diaz, Esguerra, Velasco, Siy, M. Catedrilla, Amoncio, Rodriguez (c)

Substitutions:

57’ Bernardo in for Diaz, 71’ Capistrano in for M. Catedrilla, 71’ Villaflor in for Esguerra, 73’ Corrales in for Ong

Yellow Cards: 77’ Siy

Lady Eagles conceded three and scored none against the league-leading Lady Archers in their first loss of the season.

https://storify.com/TheGUIDONSports/uaap-season-79-women-s-football-vs-dlsu