De La Salle University erased an early two-goal deficit to frustrate league leader Adamson University, with John Gaverza and Lukie Aguilar finding the back of the net to secure a 2-2 draw in the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Men’s Football Tournament on Sunday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
The Green Booters found themselves in a 2-0 hole within the opening 16 minutes but showed resilience to fight their way back, with Gaverza and Aguilar delivering the goals that kept La Salle unbeaten and denied the Soaring Falcons a fifth win of the season.
Gaverza pulled one back in the 39th minute, sending a right-footed shot past Adamson goalkeeper Christian Lauron to cut the deficit before halftime.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
Aguilar then completed La Salle’s comeback in the 58th minute, unleashing a powerful left-footed strike from outside the box to ensure both teams settled for a share of the points.
Despite watching his squad dig deep to salvage a result, La Salle head coach Richard Leyble urged the Green Booters to treat the match as a learning experience and address their mistakes moving forward.
“We know that Adamson is a strong team, very unpredictable,” said Leyble. “The boys also played according to what we prepared, except for those 10 minutes—they played slowly, and that mistake is not acceptable. I told them that we should continue with what we planned and stick to it, no matter what happens.”
Despite the stalemate, both schools remain unbeaten and continue to lead the standings, with Adamson sitting atop the table with 13 points and La Salle in second place with 10.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
On the other end, the Soaring Falcons could only lament their failure to protect a promising two-goal advantage.
Jemar Andrade gave Adamson a dream start, scoring with a left-footed shot just seven minutes into the match off a pass from teammate Roberto Roldan. Fritz Chua then doubled the Soaring Falcons’ lead in the 16th minute, putting them in control before La Salle mounted its comeback.
Adamson deputy Lemuel Unabia, who again called the shots with head coach Darlton Digha away on official business, rued his team’s inability to see out the match after such a strong start.
“It’s so obvious that we lost our concentration during the game, especially when defending against La Salle,” said Unabia. “During halftime, I kept reminding them how we scored the first two goals and that we should do the same in the second half. We didn’t change the game plan, but we failed.”
Both teams will next face the University of the Philippines at the same venue, with La Salle taking on the Fighting Maroons on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., before Adamson battles UP next Sunday at 2 p.m.
