THE UST Lady Booters bowed down to the UP Fighting Maroons, 3-0, to close out their UAAP Season 86 women’s football tournament campaign at the UP Diliman Football Pitch on Saturday, April 27.
Out of five teams, UST ended the season in last place with three points built on a 1-7-0 win-loss-draw slate, while UP finished third with a 3-3-1 card.
“Hindi ako masaya sa result, pero when it comes to the performance ng team, I’m happy because this is better than the last season,” UST head coach Aging Rubio told the Varsitarian. “The team is young, most of them are rookies and sophomores, so marami pa kami kailangan matutuhan at mag-grow pa sila.”
This marked UST’s worst finish since 2016 when the Lady Booters tallied a 1-6-1 record in Season 78. They placed fourth last season with a 3-4-1 tally.
Karnea Mangrobang opened the scoring punch for UP in the 13th minute before Aurea Reaso converted in the added time to give UP a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Reaso completed her brace and sealed UP’s win via a free kick in the 83rd minute.
The Lady Booters struggled offensively throughout the season, being held scoreless in six out of their eight matches.
In their Season 86 campaign, the Lady Booters only converted four goals: one in their first-round loss against Ateneo and three in their lone win against the same in the second round.
UST also gave up a total of 16 goals in the eight-game tournament.
“Meron kasi kaming attack, the problem is yung pag-convert or pag-score,” Rubio said. “Babagsak din tayo doon sa preparations sa offense kasi nahirapan kami magtraining talaga sa field natin, pero hindi ‘yon excuse.”
Despite only logging one win in Season 86, Rubio said that the Lady Booters have learned valuable learning experiences to bring towards their Season 87 campaign.
“Masaya ako sa experience kasi natatalo ‘man kami, pero ang dami naming natututuhan sa games,” the head coach said. “Every game namin, we keep on improving, kahit natatalo kami sa kalaban.”
UST will miss the services of the graduating Bennett twins, Cindy and Carmela, next season.
