At long last, Ateneo de Manila University finally tallied a point in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Football Tournament – earning a 2-2 draw against University of the Philippines last Saturday to earn a draw.
The result marked the first time Ateneo earned a point since a 1-1 draw against UP as well back on May 8, 2019, in Season 81.
Back then, the team’s moniker was Lady Eagles, the women’s division matches were held at Circulo Verde, and Fr. Jett Villarin was still the Ateneo school president.
When referee Jeannyfer Almhyn Bruan blew the final whistle, the Blue Eagle bench erupted as if it had won the game.
This point was a long time coming and the Ateneo faithful had Angely Alferez to thank.
She converted a penalty kick in the 76th minute, earning the Blue Eagles a priceless draw.
“Sobrang sarap po sa feeling kasi po yung hardwork ng teammates nabuhayan po. Hindi ko po ‘yon goal, goal po yon ng buong team. Sobrang happy po ako sa performance ng team po,” said Alferez.
Things were looking up for the Blue Eagles early in the game as KC Zalamea opened the scoring in the seventh minute.
However, they crashed down to earth as the Fighting Maroons turned things around with first-half goals from Aurea Reaso and Drea Montilla.
To their credit, the Blue Eagles did not just lie down and accept defeat. They kept on fighting, and saw their persistence rewarded when Bruan pointed to the spot after a foul in the Fighting Maroons’ box.
Alferez then stepped up to finish the job.
“Masarap po sa feeling na kami yung unang naka-goal. Nandon po yung momentum namin kaso bandang gitna po napagod yung team pero muli pong nabuhayan kase alam po namin na kaya namin and may mabubuga pa kami,” she said.
Now the challenge for Ateneo is to find a way to maintain this newfound momentum.
The Blue Eagles are set to face the UST Lady Booters this Saturday and the latter will feel that it is a golden opportunity for them to finally get a win this season.
It has been a challenging few seasons for the Ateneo program but at least the team finally experienced some joy on the pitch last Saturday.
Whether or not the Blue Eagles can earn another point or more in the next few days remains to be seen.
“Of course, UST is a different team,” said coach Bob Manlulo.
“They are faster and physically stronger than us. Maybe what we can do is make adjustments for those UST players who have a threat to score and who will have a big game difference on our game day.”
