If there is one player who is yet to explode in the UAAP Season 85 Women’s Football Tournament, then it has to be De La Salle University striker Shai del Campo.
The De La Salle Zobel alumna has not featured a lot in the Lady Booters’ recent matches because she is still regaining her match fitness coming from different injuries.
However, she was finally able to open her tally for the season when she scored a goal in La Salle’s 7-0 demolition of University of Santo Tomas last Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Field.
“It’s good to be back knowing na coming from injuries. It’s hard to mentally get over dun sa journey na yun,” said Del Campo.
“For me, that goal was for the team and of course sa pinagdaan kong recovery.”
To say that the past few months have not been kind to Del Campo is an understatement. She was part of the Philippine Women’s National Football Team’s pool for the glorious 2022 AFF Women’s Championship campaign on home soil but she was forced to be an innocent bystander on the sidelines.
Her circumstances would then turn from bad to worse as she experienced another accident that worsened her condition. Amid all of the setbacks, all she could think of then was how to get back stronger.
“Yung first injury ko during AFF (Women’s Championship 2022) sa training. While I was recovering from that injury, nagkaroon ako ng motorcycle incident,” said the Season 81 Best Striker who scored 10 goals that year.
“From my left leg, na may complete fracture ng fibula, na-fracture ko rin yung right foot ko. All in a span of eight months yung nangyari, yung two injuries na yun.”
Before last Saturday’s win over UST, Del Campo was only used sparingly in the first round of the tournament. In the few times she played, she was noticeably off the pace. No matter how hard she tried, she just was not as potent as she was from a few years back.
With her out of sync, the defending champions were not sharp in front of goal. They lost their first two matches of the season by one-goal margins. If La Salle wants to win a fourth straight title, it needs the national team player to start scoring regularly and that first goal could open the floodgates for her.
“I told her to get her goal today, which she did. When she scored, I called her on the sideline. All I said was I told you. She needs to get that confidence. She’s not 100 percent. Her runs are far from what she was years ago before the pandemic,” said long-time coach Hans-Peter Smit.
“This goal of hers is a good morale boost for her.”
Now that she got her breakthrough, Del Campo understands that there is still a long way to go before she could be truly satisfied with herself. The Lady Booters will face Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines, and Far Eastern University in the second round and there are so many things that can happen.
What she never lacks, though, is confidence. As a striker, it is essential that she stays mentally strong to put the ball at the back of the net consistently for her team even if the going got tough.
“For me, extra na lang yung goal. I know naman na I’m just giving my best but it’s not my all yet. I-pu-push ko pa yung sarili ko sa limits ko. For now, I’m still trying my best to recover pa rin from my injury but, of course, yung win na yun is for everyone,” she said.
“Watch out for us sa mga upcoming games.”
