SEASON 72 of the UAAP was supposed to be a renaissance year for Ateneo football. With fresh talents, and a new perspective guiding the Blue Booters to a convincing start to this year’s campaign; fans, friends, and alumni were brimming with hope.
But as errors, inconsistency, and internal problems slowly crept in, Ateneo’s hopeful season faltered as both the Blue and Lady Booters finished fourth.
Blue Booters
After an unlucky first round, the Blue Booters were looking to improve on their 2-3-0 (win-loss-draw) record. For the Blue Booters, the second round was an opportunity to rise above and let their game speak for itself.
The Boys in Blue started the second round in similar fashion to the first: with a convincing performance against a top-tier team, but this time against defending champions UP Maroons.
Coming into the game, however, Ateneo were without key defenders Luigi Meer and Carl Llado, who were suspended for having received two yellow cards.
Despite this, team Ateneo was aggressive, closed down quickly, and restricted UP to long-range shots. More importantly, captain Gabe Siojo’s control in the midfield stabilized the team, enabling the Ateneo backline to serve as effective shock absorbers to UP’s persistent attacking force.
Their 18 goal attempts compared to Ateneo’s 3 were not enough to overcome the Blue Booters’ fighting spirit.
It was only until the 60th minute when the UP Maroons were able to dismantle Ateneo’s defensive wall, but, it still wasn’t enough.
Motivated by screaming fans, and an angry coach, the Blue Booters continued to fight.
Running at lose balls, closing down on the UP defenders, the Blue Booters finally got their break when a long ball from the Ateneo keeper bounced into the UP half. With Cancio charging towards the loose ball, the UP defenders were disoriented as Cancio took possession of the ball and fired an early shot. With a slight deflection, the ball slowly but surely rolled into the back of the UP goal.
Fans jumped as if a championship goal had been scored, and the Ateneo players celebrated in relief. The game finished 1-1.
Their first game had a classic ‘one big fight’ Ateneo mentality, but if you thought that the Blue Booters’ draw against defending champions UP would proliferate into a confident display against the La Salle Green Archers, you thought wrong.
With a convincing start to the second round, the Booters’ inconsistency showed as their detrimental defensive errors enabled DLSU to trample all over the boys in Blue, allowing the arch rivals to win 2-0.
The defeat to their Green counterparts was the start of a revelation of problems that snowballed as one loss came after another: a 3-0 defeat against UST, 4-0 beating against FEU, then in their last game, a painful 1-0 defeat to UE.
Their scarcity of goal scoring opportunities hindered them from salvaging a single point from their games.
Across all three games, tactically, the boys in Blue defended too deep which saw a disconnection between their offense and defense. The lack of control in the midfield further decreased their chances as opposing teams were able gain possession with ease.
While the Blue Booters will see this season as an improvement from last year’s last place finish, they will be disappointed with their inability to fulfill their potential.
Lady Booters
As the nightmare first round storm came to an end, the skies never quite cleared for the Ateneo Lady Booters.
If their 0-1-3 (win-loss-draw) first round performance was any indication of the internal problems the team was having, their second round display painted a clearer picture.
They opened the second round on February 7 with a 1-0 defeat to DLSU. Coach Bautista continued her pursuit of defensive football, heavily rotating her defenders in various parts of the game.
The LaSallians scored in the 20th minute, and even lost their goalkeeper to a red card midway through the second half, but Ateneo still failed to convert any of their attempts. The rotation saw more changes from this game on as seniors Railla Puno and Kylie Misa saw more action. But what followed after the loss to DLSU was a 12-point swing that hit new lows in recent Ateneo football history.
The Lady Booters welcomed the UST Tigresses as their Valentine’s Day dates and accepted half a dozen goals. The starting lineup saw the return of Erika Casas, as well as Puno and Misa at defense. However, the game featured the same problems for the Lady Booters: poor coaching decisions, and a failure in defensive recovery unseen throughout the season.
Twelve minutes into the game, UST scored its first goal through a scramble right in the box where yellow shirts swarmed goalkeeper JJ Matalam.
The second goal on the 31st minute saw Tigresses splitting the middle of the defense, exposing an relatively open goal as only one or even no defenders tracked back to protect Matalam. With no adjustments made, the next four goals by UST were essentially replicas of the second one.
Three days later against FEU, second string goal keeper, Gely Tiu, started in place of Matalam. In the first half, the Lady Tamaraws scored five goals in a span of 28 minutes as the less experienced, Tiu found herself committing too early, leaving the goal unprotected.
Like the previous game, the Ateneo defense was porous, weak in recovery, and failed to protect its goal. While the second saw a slight improvement in defense with only one goal conceded, the adjustments were made too late as the game ended 6-0.
In the last game of Season 72, Ateneo once again had the chance to win one against UP—the team that joins them at the bottom of the standings.
Playing with high energy from the start, the Lady Booters poured their hearts out in this game. Cess Trinidad scored in the 31st minute as she sped past the UP defense, creating a one-on-one dual with the goal keeper, eventually, Trinidad’s composure enabled her to slot one in for the Lady Booters.
With the hopes that Ateneo would finally escape with what would have been their first win of the season, in the last five minutes of the game UP scored, and the season ended with the 1-1 draw.
