THE ATENEO Lady Eagles fell to the UP Lady Maroons, 0-1, on Saturday, December 17, 2016, in the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Malate, Manila.
The loss keeps the Lady Eagles at 3 points with one win and two losses in the standings of the Philippine Football Federation Women’s League.
Although UP had the lion’s share of possession early in the game, the Lady Eagles were able to get into good positions within the box as captain Cam Rodriguez served as a constant threat on the offensive end. She took the position of a target man for forward passes and successfully placed pressure on the UP backline. The Lady Eagles created many chances throughout the game, but were simply unable to turn any of their attacking moves into goals.
In the 23rd minute, Rodriguez nicked the ball off an opposing defender and fired in a cross from the left flank to right winger Nona Amoncio, whose goal-bound header forced a diving save from UP keeper Nicole Adlawan.
The Lady Eagles had another chance to score a goal in the 38th minute as Rodriguez found herself with space inside the box. However, her shot towards the near post was corralled by Adlawan.
UP had an early chance to take the lead in the 48th minute but were unable to capitalize on the open goal. The ball remained in play after Ateneo goal keeper Mariane Caparros made the initial stop on a shot from the right hand side.
In the 54th minute, Rodriguez found rookie Nica Siy making a run into the UP box. After receiving the ball, Siy went to ground as she was tackled, but the referee did not blow his whistle for a call.
Two minutes later, the Lady Eagles had another opportunity as Adlawan was unable to secure the ball off a floated cross by right-back Mica Corrales. However, Rodriguez’s strike was blocked on the goal line by a UP defender.
Caparros was called into action again, making crucial stops on two shots from inside the box in the 60th and 63rd minutes. After the goal keeper’s heroics, the momentum shifted as the blue side then went on the front foot.
In the 66th minute, Rodriguez played a well-weighted through ball to left winger Mia Catedrilla, but Adlawan did well to clear the ball at the edge of the box. Two minutes after, Amoncio hoofed a long cross to midfielder Pam Diaz on the far post, who headed the ball to Rodriguez in the middle of the box. However, Adlawan was able to intercept the play. The Lady Eagles also won a corner in the 70th minute, but the set piece ended with the ball in Adlawan’s hands once again.
Despite Ateneo getting forward more often, the Lady Maroons were able to make the breakthrough, scoring the only goal of the match in the 82nd minute. The Lady Eagles called for the ball to be kicked out of play after M. Catedrilla went down on the left wing after she was dispossessed. The referee, however, called for no such provision as the Maroon side played on with a swift counterattack, which ended in a strike by attacking player Cristina De Los Reyes, who slotted the ball into the bottom left hand side of goal.
The Lady Maroons almost doubled their lead in the 86th minute as Corrales gave away a free kick at the edge of the box and was booked for the hard tackle, but the attempt slammed into the Ateneo wall.
Ateneo coach JP Merida made three late substitutions to inject fresh legs into the Lady Eagle attack with Ysa Ramos, Precious Capistrano, and Pauline Villaflor coming in for Diaz, Siy, and left-back Nina Catedrilla. However, the move proved to be too late as the blue side was unable to get a goal back and salvage a point from the contest.
After the match, coach Merida praised the team for performance both in defending and creating chances, but still rued that the Lady Eagles were unable to score in the match.
“Medyo happy naman ako sa pinakita ng team regarding sa team defending. Yung communication [was] excellent, yung team defending [was] excellent. Ang medyo na-disappoint ako lang yung dami naming chances [pero] hindi namin [na-convert]. Nakapasok kami sa 18 yard box at six yard box pero di namin na-convert (I’m quite happy with what the team showed regarding team defending. The communication was excellent. The team defending was excellent. I was quite disappointed, however, that we had a lot of chances, but were unable to convert them. We got into the 18-yard box and six yard box, but were unable to convert them to goals),” said Merida
The next game for the Lady Eagles will be against the Younghusband Football Academy on January 8, 2017 at 6pm in the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Ateneo Starting XI: Caparros, J. Catedrilla, Sabio, Cabrera, Corrales, Diaz, Herrera, M. Catedrilla, Amoncio, Siy, Rodriguez
Substitutions:
87’ Diaz out, Ramos in
87’ Siy out, Capistrano in
89’ J. Catedrilla out, Villaflor in
UP Starting XI: Adlawan, Malonzo, Agustin, Alleje, Yalong, Ruiz, Sebastian, Sta. Clara, Malmis, Perez, De Los Reyes
Substitutions:
56’ Sebastian out, Obra in
62’ Perez out, E.Fagsao in
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect a correction of the team’s point total in the standings
