MARINELLE Cristobal struck at the nick of time to lift defending champion Far Eastern University to a 1-0 victory over University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 87 Collegiate Women’s Football Tournament on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
Cristobal, a third-year forward out of FEU-Diliman, put the ball at the back of the net in the 75th minute to break UST’s impressive resistance against the defending champion’s barrage of attempts.
While relieved to see the Lady Tamaraws get their second win of the season, coach Let Dimzon urged her players to be more clinical in front of goal.
“Ang naging problem dun sa taas ay yung concentration nila every time we have chances to score,” said Dimzon. “Yes, na-relieve, pero same pa rin. Siyempre, daming nasayang. Kung ma-capitalize namin yun, ang laki ng chance tumaas pa yung ranking namin sa points and goal difference.”
After a goalless first half, UST goalkeeper Lizlie Garcia played like a woman possessed—denying the likes of Kyza Stephan Colina, Carmela Altiche, and Sarahgen Tulabing to keep the game scoreless.
It looked like the Lady Booters had luck on their side as the Lady Tamaraws had a shot that hit the post, which went straight to Garcia. However, Cristobal finally broke the deadlock and won the match for FEU.
Judie Rose Arevalo, Tiffany Trinidad, and Dionesa Tolentin all had chances to add to Cristobal’s goal but none were able to find the back of the net.
“We had good chances. We are very strong in attack, pero yung character nila in front of the goal and inside the box yung nagiging problem namin,” said Dimzon. “I think kung ma-re-realize ng players ang mga chances na yun, na sana na-ca-capitalize nila, mag-ma-mature ang players once naging confident sila in scoring.”
The Lady Tamaraws improved their tally in second place to 6 points with a plus-4 goal difference.
FEU will go up against University of the Philippines this Saturday at 4 p.m.
On the other hand, UST and Ateneo de Manila University, which lost 1-0 earlier today to De La Salle University, both have zero points with the Lady Booters’ goal difference of minus-3 putting them above the Blue Eagles, who have minus-5.
UST and Ateneo will face off this Saturday as well at 6:30 p.m.
