Aurea Reaso netted a brace, carrying University of the Philippines to solo third in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Football Tournament after drubbing University of Santo Tomas, 3-0, on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
Reaso, an Anthropology student who came from San Beda College Alabang, doubled the Fighting Maroons’ lead in the 45+4 minute. She then sealed full points and UP’s second straight bronze medal finish with a free kick in the 83rd minute.
“Standings-wise, it’s not an improvement,” said coach Anto Gonzales. “We always know we can do better. It’s not something we can be very happy about. Then again, we still have one game left and we want to finish strong.”
The Fighting Maroons will secure a podium finish for a second straight season.
Before Reaso’s double, it was Kamea Mangrobang who opened the floodgates for the Fighting Maroons with a goal in the 14th minute.
The outcome allowed UP to seal third place by improving its tally to 10 points in the standings with a plus-2 goal difference.
The Fighting Maroons will finish their campaign this Saturday against the finalists DLSU Lady Booters this Saturday at 6:30 PM at the same venue.
“We have to go back to our last game against La Salle. We lost 3-0. We look to improve on our performance against La Salle. We’ll look to really look to end the season on a high note,” said Gonzales.
On the other hand, UST finished its campaign at the bottom of the standings with three points and a minus-12 goal difference.
This was the second straight season the Lady Booters finished last in the five-team tournament.
Captain Cindy Bennett and her sister Carmela are the only two players graduating from UST this season.
The XI:
UST XI: Garcia (GK), Gerona, Bennett (C), Logastua, Ramos, Anonuevo, Pinili, Nemenzo, Quiman, Fernandez, Santerva.
UP XI: Eduave (GK), Facturanan, Baroin, Cachero, Miranda, Torres, Trajano, Kim, Mangrobang, Napiza (C), Reaso.
