It’s becoming harder to find superlatives to describe Jarvey Gayoso
Gayoso put up a goalscoring masterclass in the first half to lift the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to a 4-0 rout of the Adamson University Soaring Falcons, in the second round of the UAAP Season 80 Men’s Football Tournament.
The Blue Eagles’ win, on Thursday morning at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, allows them to temporarily leapfrog the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons to 1st place with 22 points in the league table. In contrast, Adamson have yet to register a single point this year.
“It’s a good feeling. Coming from a devastating drought in that game against La Salle, it’s nice that we were all able to pick ourselves up from it and we were all keen on scoring goals,” said Gayoso, who increased his personal tally this season to 12 goals.
The Soaring Falcons may be bottom of the standings, but that should not take away anything from Gayoso’s exploits. The third-generation athlete proved that he is the tournament’s most potent finisher, as he shot past Adamson goalie Carl Viray four times in the opening period.
“A lot of those goals were (from) beautiful plays from the team,” added Season 79’s Most Valuable Player. “I cannot take credit for what happened. I was just there at the right time to finish but it were all good and beautiful plays from the team.”
With the game all but won, Sam Lim replaced Gayoso at halftime, and the former almost got himself a goal but Viray denied him with a fine save. Renko Gaudiel then won a penalty late in the period, which Paolo Alilam squandered wide.
Ateneo coach Jay Pee Merida opined, “Of course I was happy with Jarvey in the first half. From yung frustration namin in the last game against DLSU, talaga yung finishing niya hindi nabigay sa kanya. Siguro yung nangyari ngayon ay nag-prepare siguro si Jarvey para mabago yung mga scoring chances na binibigay lagi sa kanya. I’m happy dun sa result.”
“Kailangan namin magtrabaho starting tomorrow (para sa) preparation for UST because Jeremiah Rocha ngayon is (suspended because of) double yellow cards. Yung yellow card niya kanina is useless talaga. Looking forward talaga. Mabigat na trabaho yan starting tomorrow preparing for UST,” concluded Merida.
A stiffer test awaits the Blue Eagles as they will face the University of Santo Tomas Golden Booters on March 18, 3:00 PM. Adamson shall also take on UST in their next game on March 22, 8:00 at the Far Eastern University-Diliman field.
