JOSE Montelibano’s heroics in the 92nd minute allowed De La Salle University to salvage 2-2 tie against the UST Golden Booters in the UAAP Season 79 men’s football tournament at the Rizal Memorial Stadium Sunday.
Minutes after the heated commotion between Green Booter Mauro John Acot and UST’s Darryl Regala cooled down, Montelibano drilled in a goal off a rebound for the equalizer.
La Salle’s defense held up preventing a winning conversion by UST.
“I’m satisfied. May mga finishing lang kami na hindi talaga na-convert lang. Kung ganito lang lagi yung intensity at tsaka style of play, I think we can dominate some of the other teams like UP [and] maybe Ateneo,” UST head coach Marjo Allado said.
Following a 1-1 tie after the first half, UST’s Jason Rafol found a hole past La Salle goalkeeper Raphael de Guzman and nailed a header for his second goal in the 50th minute, 2-1.
Rafol’s header in 25th minute gave UST the lead but La Salle’s Marcus Garcia scored off a Matthew Custodio assist to even the score.
The Golden Booters, who sit at fourth place behind a 2-3-1 win-loss-draw card, will face the Ateneo de Manila University on March 9, Thursday, 2 p.m., at the Moro Lorenzo field in Katipunan.
