THE BLUE and Lady Eagles were both able to register their first wins of the season over the Adamson University (AdU) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST), respectively, on Saturday, February 20 at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig. Although the wins came in two different fashions, both teams were nevertheless able to secure their respective three points.

Lady Eagles

Late drama ensued in the 4PM Women’s match, as the Lady Eagles came from behind to score two goals in the final five minutes of play to defeat the UST Golden Tigresses 2-1.

UST opened up the scoring through a counterack that ended with mazy run and finish by Cabalan in the 65th minute. But after a long dryspell, the lady booters got their equalizer courtesy of substitute Nona Amoncio in the 85th minute. The speedy winger was able to push the ball past her defender on the right wing, and fire a shot to the near post. The UST keeper wasn’t able to react quick enough to get a hand on the ball, which hit the back of the net to level the score at 1-1.

“When it was passed to me, one touch, and then straight to the goal. I didn’t even look.” said the goalscorer.

In the 88th minute, Co-captain Cam Rodriguez took full advantage of the UST keeper making a mess of catching the ball within the UST box. The Lady Eagle, who was perched closest to the keeper, opportunistically stole the ball and walked it in for the winner.

“What we lacked as a whole in the game was finishing. We were all sort of shaky but I guess it was a clutch game for us,” said Amoncio, as she reflected on the team’s performance.

Blue Eagles

In the 7PM Men’s match, the blue booters handily defeated Adamson, 4-0. The Blue and White turned up their offense in the second half, scoring all four goals through four different players.

Team Captain Mikko Mabanag began the onslaught in the 47th minute, as his effort from the right towards the far post was beyond the AdU keeper and rolled in for the early 1-0 lead.

In the 55th minute, a Mabanag deadball from almost the half field line was met by Jeremiah Rocha. The centerback’s initial attempt was denied by the cross bar, but he made no mistake on the rebound, as his volley rocketed into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

Meanwhile, freshman phenom Jarvey Gayoso scored a beautiful finesse shot in the 86th minute. After evading two defenders, the rookie found himself free right side of goal, and curled one beyond the Adamson keeper, and into the left corner for a well-desereved goal.

The fourth and final goal came in the 91st minute through Japanese rookie Masyu Yoshioka, who was able to step past his defender before easily slotting it past the keeper.

“Everything we wanted to do, we did,” Rocha said after the match. “This really shows we have to confidence now to go on and beat [the University of the Philippines]. So, now it’s all about keeping this up and staying focused.”

With the win, the Lady Eagles are at 1-0-1 with a zero goal difference while the Blue Eagles are at 1-0-2 with a -1 goal difference.

https://storify.com/TheGUIDONSports/eagles-register-first-wins-of-uaaps78-football