Behind the fastest goal of the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Men’s Football Tournament so far, University of Santo Tomas blanked University of the East, 3-0, to secure another three points on Sunday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
The Golden Booters, riding high after their breakthrough 2-0 win over the Ateneo Blue Eagles last Thursday, wasted no time asserting their dominance.
Junior Golden Booters product Joshua Balliner opened his collegiate scoring account just 10 seconds after kickoff, netting the fastest goal of the season.
Rodrigo Mariñas, another alumnus of the Junior Golden Booters program, doubled UST’s lead in the 15th minute to give the Golden Booters a commanding advantage over the Red Warriors.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
Fourth-year midfielder Richard Songalia then capped off the rout with a close-range finish in the 18th minute.
“Good job sa assistant coaches for preparing the team today,” said coach Marjo Allado. “So, clean sheet and second win, we had a lot of opportunities to score pero okay na ‘yung 3-0.
“‘Yun ‘yung importante dito, is ‘yung manalo. So tuloy lang namin ‘yung ganiyang panalo. Focus na kami sa next game namin sa FEU,” he continued.
UST climbed to fourth in the standings with six points following the victory.
However, its position remains precarious, as fifth-placed Far Eastern University — which holds a superior goal difference of plus-7 compared to UST’s plus-3 — can leapfrog the Golden Booters with a win over third-placed University of the Philippines later tonight.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
Meanwhile, UE remained at the bottom of the standings, still winless with zero points and a minus-19 goal difference.
Both schools return to action this Thursday at the same venue. UE opens the matchday against Ateneo at 2:00 PM, while UST takes on FEU at 7:00 PM.
