THE ATENEO Blue and Lady Eagles completed the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Taekwondo Championships held on Friday, November 17 at the Blue Eagle Gym in Quezon City.
Blue Eagles
In their first game of the day, the Blue Eagles battled the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws. Ateneo dropped the first two matches, as Mark Macadangdang lost, 9-18, and Elijah Buencamino, who cut the deficit to a single point in the second round, faltered at 5-11. Rookie Paul Cham successfully salvaged a point for the Blue Eagles in the ensuing match, winning at 19-11. However, Ferdinand Subido was overpowered by a flurry of kicks from FEU, falling at 8-28.
Noy Garcia gave Ateneo a glimpse of hope in the fifth match. He controlled both rounds, en route to a 17-9 victory that brought the team-tie to a score of 2-3 in favor of FEU. Unfortunately, Blue Eagle Rafael Cosca succumbed to the persistent FEU attack, 4-27, in the penultimate match. Team Captain Jeff Alejandro also lost in his match in a nail-biter, 11-12.
In their final match of the season, the Blue Eagles went up against their rivals, the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers. After Ateneo dropped the first four matches, Noy Garcia launched a comeback effort by successfully dispatching his opponent, 7-5, after trailing 0-2 in the first round. Jeff Alejandro also held off his counterpart, 11-9, during the final match for the Blue Eagles, but it did not affect the team-tie as they lost, 2-5.
After an eventful but unsuccessful final day for the Blue Eagles, Head Coach Elmer Rafael pinned the loss on the shortage of players. “We just had a lack of players for the player number four,” he explained. “We won three fights out of seven, but in the UAAP we need to win at least four fights.” He also commended Cham’s bronze medal finish in the Bantamweight division as well as Buencamino, Garcia, and Alejandro, calling them the standout players of the team. The Blue Eagle ended Season 80 with a 1-5 record resulting in a sixth place overall finish.
Lady Eagles
The Lady Eagles had a remarkable showing in the final day of UAAP Season 80. They first tested their mettle against the FEU Lady Tamaraws with the team going up, 2-0, early in the match. Irene Therese Bermejo defeated Ma. Jon Bune of FEU, 15-7, in a wire-to-wire performance. This was followed up by Noleen Lagnada’s dominant performance to emerge over Ma. Beatriz Ann Galvez, 28-10, which featured a nine-point burst from the Lady Eagle in as many seconds. Cam Sta. Ana then fell to Andrae Janna Lim, 1-10, in the ensuing match, but with the team-tie still in Ateneo’s favor, 2-1.
Pauline Lopez continued her stellar form in the fourth match, as she needed only one round to dispatch Lady Tamaraw Jessleen Lomibao, 25-5, before the referee ended the match early due to a punitive decision. Arianne Agojo used her height advantage to also route her opponent in a single round, winning automatically due to the 24-0 point gap that she built in the first round. FEU forfeited the sixth round due to a lack of players in the Welterweight division. Gem Sandoval capped the team-tie with a tight-knit 6-5 victory, as the Lady Eagles won the team-tie, 6-1.
The final match against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigresses featured back-and-forth action from both sides. Bermejo capped her spotless Season 80 performance, winning 17-0 in the first round, but Lagnada fell to Jeshlin Gas, 4-8. The Lady Eagles then trailed in the team-tie, 1-2, after Sta. Ana lost to UST’s Colleen Heria, 19-26.
The Lady Eagles regained the lead in the next two matches. Pauline Lopez clinched a gold medal in the fifth match, holding Alyssa Asegurado to a single point in the second round as Lopez triumphed, 17-4, to complete her undefeated record in the tournament. Agojo used an early storm to win, 18-2, over Jovy Meguillo, giving Ateneo a one-point advantage (3-2).
In the penultimate match of the season, Rookie Lady Eagle Danielle Morales gained a slight advantage early on, but trailed by two as the final 10 seconds ticked. Needing to win to secure the victory, she miraculously garnered two points to tie the match 11-all, which forced a sudden death situation. She struck first in the sudden-death, clinching the win for Ateneo with much on the line. Sandoval dropped the final match, but it did not have a bearing as Ateneo won against UST, 4-3.
Morales described what was going through her head after the team-tie. “After the second round when I was sitting down, our coaches were talking to me. I look to my left and I see my dad who was coaching me, too, and then I look forward and I see my other two coaches, Kuya Joey and Kuya Lito,” she explained. “This was for all of them. And then I look to the right and I saw my team and they were all praying, and [that’s when I realized] that I needed to do this, especially for the ones in their final year.”
The Lady Eagles finished the competition with a 4-2 record, which earned them overall first-runner up. The team also had three individual awardees in Bermejo for gold in finweight division, Lopez for gold in featherweight division, and Morales for gold in welterweight division and the Rookie of the Year award.
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