THE ATENEO Lady Eagles defeated The Younghusband Football Academy (TYFA), 6-1, on Sunday, January 15, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
The victory brings the Lady Eagles up to six points with two wins and two losses as well as a goal difference of 0 in the standings of the Philippine Football Federation Women’s League.
The goal fest kicked off in the fifth minute when Nona Amoncio’s ground cross found Pam Diaz in the TYFA box. Diaz’s flick sent the ball into the air towards skipper Camille Rodriguez, who was quick to leap and head a looping ball away from the TYFA goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
TYFA, however, was able to equalize on the 22nd minute. Ateneo defender Annika Ong was called for handball, which set up a free kick for TYFA within scoring distance. April Reyes struck the deadball with too much height and power for Ateneo keeper Mariane Caparros to block and the score was leveled, 1-1.
Rodriguez then took the lead back for the Lady Eagles with an absolute stunner of a goal in the 40th minute. The Ateneo striker got the ball on the left side of goal and eluded two defenders before letting fly a powerful strike from outside the box that curled into far right corner (2-1).
Four minutes later, Rodriguez found herself near the byline on the right side of goal. Instead of putting in a cross, Rodriguez surprised the opposing keeper by going for the goal from the tight angle and scoring to complete her first half hat-trick to give Ateneo a 3-1 lead heading into the break.
A strong second half start by the Lady Eagles paid off with Rodriguez’s fourth goal in the 51st minute. Caparros opted to play the ball long toward Rodriguez who blazed past the TYFA backline and rounded the keeper for the tap-in.
In the 68th minute, Diaz got herself on the score sheet as the midfielder blasted a shot from the outside of the box that beat the keeper for Ateneo’s fifth goal.
The final goal of the match came in the 75th minute. An Ateneo corner taken by Amoncio came off TYFA’s Marielle Sucatio and rolled in the net (6-1).
After the game, Ateneo head coach Jay Pee Merida credited the team’s finishing ability to the team’s ongoing 7-day training camp.
“Nag-start kami ng [training] camp last week so talaga nakapag-focus kami sa finishing, sa attacking so ito siguro yung benefits na nakuha namin (We started our training camp last week, so we were really able to focus on finishing and attacking. We probably are reaping the benefits of this now),” he said.
He also praised Rodriguez on her attacking skills. “Camille talaga is a very dangerous player talaga. Kahit sinong team talagang ma-cre-create siya ng mismatches talaga, especially sa final third (Camille is really a very dangerous player. Against any team, she will really create mismatches, especially in the final third),” he said.
When asked about her four-goal performance, Rodriguez explained it was simply a result of her persistence paying off.
“Why I’m finally scoring now and why I’m finishing is that I just kept persisting. Nothing changed from what I did in the start. It’s just that I guess I pushed pa. I didn’t let the first games just stop me,” said the Ateneo captain.
Editor’s Note: The attached photo to this article was modified according to the discretion of the Editorial Board.
