THE ATENEO Blue Booters and the UE Red Warriors squared off last Sunday, January 30, with both teams looking to clinch their first win of the season. Despite the scorching heat at the Erenchun field, Ateneo had everything going right for them—their offense, firing on all cylinders and their defense, tight and solid.

However, things would still not go well for the Blue and White. The game ended scoreless, making it a second draw of the season for both UE and Ateneo.

As soon as the game started, the Blue Booters went on all out attack mode with a banzai of charges led by Anton Amistoso, Luigi Meer and Gab Siojo. The defense was held strong by an impressive effort by their back four, Miguel Tuazon, Tom Cruel, Carl Llado and Enzo Bonoan—who started as left back for the first time this season.

In the first half, Ateneo was in complete control; the Blue Booters had fluid passing, but were unable to capitalize on as many as eight attempts.

UE’s only legitimate attempt in scoring during the first half came from Fitch Johnson Arboleda who snaked through the Ateneo defense with poise to score until he was closed down by a Blue defender.

After the first 45 minutes of football, the score was still stuck at 0-0. While the Blue Booters shook their heads in frustration, head coach Ompong Merida praised his team for their efforts and urged them to keep fighting and to be patient.

The Red Warriors’ offense showed signs of life as they finally got things going in the second half. Gringo Bravo, a former UAAP leading scorer and a member of the under-19 Philippine National team, waved the banner for UE attacking line—but his heroic attempts were either denied by an Ateneo defender or deflected by Ateneo keeper, Faustino.

Hungry for their first win, Ateneo continued offensively but their attempts did not bear fruit: a shot by Siojo was caught by the keeper, Amistoso charged from the right wing and scuffed a shot wide, and attempts by Paredes and Jacobo Lorenzo were easy saves for the keeper.

Ateneo was given a bit of a scare when Amistoso went down. Amistoso, who is still recovering from over-exerted quadriceps was stretched out of the game and was found to have a bruised left side possibly from an elbow by a UE player.

Ateneo’s very last attempt came from Lorenzo; but still, the game ended with a 0-0 score.

Coach Merida said, “We could have won this game and scored at least three goals [but we] were just so unlucky. But the positive side from this game is that we followed our system well; everyone did their roles and followed the game plan. We were just unable to finish. Hopefully in the next round, we will continue doing our roles, following the system, playing with character and even win games.”

Ateneo begins the second round of the 73rd UAAP Football Season against UP. Details of the game have yet to be announced.