A breakthrough Final Four appearance may have ended in heartbreak, but for Jada Bicierro and Ateneo de Manila University, the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Women’s Football Tournament was ultimately a season of growth, lessons, and renewed determination.
The Blue Eagles may have fallen short of a championship berth after bowing to defending champion Far Eastern University, 5-1, last Friday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, but Bicierro believes the campaign showed just how much the team has developed — and how much more potential it still has to unlock.
Leading Ateneo with five goals this season, the Season 88 Best Striker awardee also saw the campaign as an opportunity for personal growth, particularly as opposing teams increasingly adjusted their tactics to contain her.
“I think it was definitely an adjustment with Ateneo,” said Bicierro. “A lot of people, even the community, knew how during the season a lot of teams would adjust to me and change their playing style according to how I play.
“I think that’s one of the things that I focus on — like learning what I lack and learning what I had to do to strengthen my weaknesses, like not just relying on my speed like Season 87, but relying on being an all-rounder and being able to do everything that I have to do and what’s set in my mind.”
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
Although Ateneo’s season ended on a disappointing note against FEU, Bicierro still managed to make her mark in the Blue Eagles’ final match. The third-year standout from Miriam College scored her team’s consolation goal late in the game, ensuring that they would not go home empty-handed.
For Bicierro, the goal served as a testament to how she and her teammates continued to fight until the final whistle against a program that had previously gone on a 38-game unbeaten streak and is now one win away from securing its fifth consecutive championship.
“It shows the capabilities we have as a team, knowing that we can work on a lot of things,” said Bicierro. “It shows that we still have that energy, and we still have that will and drive to score, to attack, and to still play our game despite the score and despite whatever happens.
“I think a lot of people know that Ateneo is always a team that fights and always a team that never gives up this fight.”
With another season in the books, it is back to the drawing board for the Ateneo women’s football program. Reaching the Final Four for the first time in the program’s history is already an achievement in itself, and one that the Blue Eagles can hopefully build on as they pursue greater success in the seasons ahead.
The coming offseason will be crucial for the team, which could lose as many as five players due to graduation. While the uncertainty surrounding the roster presents its own challenges, it also opens the door for new recruits who could help take the team to the next level.
“I think it’s definitely like a restart with a lot of our key players — like Ate Soleil [Schroth], Ate KC [Zalamea], Rae [Tolentino] — leaving, or not knowing if they’ll extend. I think what we really need to focus on is just restarting and building our identity as a team,” said Bicierro.
