By: Nicole Parallag
Toochie Eval’s second-half goals propelled Ateneo de Manila University to its first win of the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Football Tournament, securing a 2-0 victory at the expense of the University of Santo Tomas on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
After a goalless first half, Eval opened the floodgates by scoring the go-ahead goal in the 89th minute.
The midfielder from Faith Academy found herself unmarked at the right flank to convert an Angely Alferez cross into the back of the net.
Eval doubled the lead with a back-breaking goal deep into added time, securing the Blue Eagles’ first win in the UAAP since defeating the University of the Philippines, 1-0, on March 20, 2019.
“Actually, we prepared for this season during the preseason game we had against UST, and we always lost to them. We took this opportunity to study how the players of UST moved during the game and how they distributed the ball so the coaching staff planned a system on how to contain them,” said coach Bob Maulo.
“Fortunately, the team responded and kept holding the game until we had a score, and the last-minute goal sealed the victory.”
On the other hand, UST failed to tally a point after the first round.
The Lady Booters had a chance to prevent that with Erica Mosico’s opportunity when Blue Eagles goalkeeper Adrielle Lee was off her line, but the chance went begging in the end.
The Eleven:
ATENEO XI: Lee (GK), Tuano, Tolentino, Samonte, Zalamea, Francisco (C), Alferez, Espiritu, Lim, Napoles, Eval.
UST XI: Garcia (GK), Gerona, Sy, Bennett (C), Logastua, Ramos, Marcos, Mosico, Quiman, Fernandez, Santerva.
