FAR EASTERN University (FEU) swept the UST Lady Booters in their best-of-three Finals to rule the women’s division while University of the Philippines (UP) knocked out the UST Golden Booters in their Final Four match to book a return trip to the Finals.
Marice Magdolot scored a late-game goal for the Lady Booters in the 87th minute, but came up short as FEU did not allow a series extension, 1-2, last Feb. 23 at the FEU-Diliman field.
Sharmaine Siaotong converted at the 14th minute before teammate Alesa Dolino tallied one more goal at the 57th minute en route to FEU’s second straight title.
"Next year will be a different story kasi we will train harder based sa mga pagkukulang namin this year," coach JR Judal said. "We'll be back and hopefully, we can get that title."
UST’s Jena Abuan was awarded Best Defender while Zipporah Luna was hailed Best Goalkeeper.
The Golden Booters, who climbed back from sixth place in the first round to reach the semifinals, were listless against UP’s unforgiving offense, 1-5, last Feb. 13 at the same venue.
Despite improving to third place from last season’s fifth-place finish, UST had several defensive lapses and was haunted by early fouls in the first half as the Maroons looked to attack early.
UP scored two goals in the first 20 minutes courtesy of Fe Baya (9th minute) and Gerardo Valmayor, who converted a penalty kick.
UST’s nightmare continued after Maroon Carlos Monfort scored again at the 26th minute to put UP in a commanding 3-0 lead.
Team captain Shinmar Felongco tried to put the Golden Booters on track, but his two attempts were off-target and blocked.
“UP already had two goals in the first 20 minutes and those were because of goalkeeper’s and defenders’ errors,” coach Marjo Allado said.
UST’s chances further dimmed in the second half as Baya made another goal at the 53rd minute for a 4-0 UP advantage.
Breaks of the game seemed to finally favor UST at the 65th minute when Golden Booter Nicanor Palacio and UP’s Valmayor were involved in a scuffle that led to two red cards. The skirmish translated into a Jean Clariño goal five minutes later for UST’s first and only point.
The Maroons immediately answered via a Gabriel Mendoza conversion at the 83rd minute to seal the tally.
“It’s a good experience for the rookies [for] I really saw that they were the ones who were performing [well],” Allado said. “Next season, we have to put the right players in the lineup and they need more exposure. They need to be familiar with these kinds of games.”
