Jodie Banzon struck twice as De La Salle University warmed up for its high-stakes showdown against Far Eastern University with a 3-2 victory over the University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Women’s Football Tournament on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
Banzon, a second-year forward, scored in the 13th and 27th minutes to give La Salle a commanding lead. The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu product now has three goals this season and has found the back of the net in two straight matches.
Lara Regarde then scored the Green Lady Booters’ third goal in the 51st minute, giving them some breathing room and something to hold on to as the Lady Booters remained persistent throughout the contest.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
“Of course, we’re happy to get the win,” said assistant coach Ma. Eleonora Dillera, as head coach Joyce Landagan had to attend to personal business. “It’s a winning streak after all, but again, when we get back to training, we have to address our emotions and game maturity because at a certain point, when UST was trying to get the tempo, we followed their tempo instead of us dictating the tempo.
“It’s something that we still need to work on. I think the team is still at that point where we’re still building, but we’re happy with the results.”
Banzon’s early brace proved too much for the Lady Booters to overcome.
UST cut the deficit to one before halftime when Rodina Martinez’s shot from the edge of the box beat La Salle goalkeeper Jessica Pido.
UST captain Maria Rica Gerona then produced a fine finish to make it 3-2 in the 78th minute, but the Lady Booters could not find the breakthrough they needed to salvage a draw in the dying stages of the match.
After securing their fourth straight win and improving their points tally to 12, the Green Lady Booters are now looking forward to the challenge of facing the Lady Tamaraws.
(C) UAAP Season 89 Media Team
“Of course, FEU is a team we really dream to beat, and that is what we are really working on,” added Dillera. “With FEU, we take it as any other UAAP team. We keep our system intact. We have to follow it. We have to focus. We have to make sure that the tempo of the game will be ours.”
Both schools will finish the first round on Wednesday, with UST — currently fourth in the standings with three points — going up against the University of the Philippines at 2 p.m. La Salle, meanwhile, will face its perennial championship rival FEU later in the day at 7 p.m.
