Halfway through their respective eliminations, the De La Salle Green and Lady Booters both placed fourth in the UAAP men’s and women’s football tournaments accordingly. The LaSallian gives you a few quick numbers that will be remembered in the second half of Season 75 football action.
1:The Green and Lady Booters both have one mentor. Both teams are under the tutelage of Hans Peter Smit, which means that the teams can only play one at a time. Smit’s position as coach of the two teams has influenced the game schedules.
Moreover, the Green and Lady Booters have also bonded well with each other during and off training. Of all the UAAP teams, DLSU is the only school that has a coach who mentors the men’s and women’s football teams.
3:The Green Booters won and lost thrice in the team’s first six games of the season. The team has yet to win on a Sunday. Sunday matches are held at the newly renovated Erenchun Field, which is now called the Moro Lorenzo Football Field. Curiously, the Green Booters won all of the team’s games at Ateneo’s Ocampo Field. All of which were all held on a weekday. To win the championship, the Green Booters will need to find the winning touch at the Erenchun field.
4:Starting this season, the UAAP men’s football tournament will feature four teams in the playoffs. The tournament will begin to implement a Final Four format after the elimination round. This is due to the addition of National University, the seventh member school to field a team in the said event. Previously, the men’s football tournament immediately advances into the Finals where only the top two teams would compete. Because of this, the Green Booters’ chance of reaching the Finals is a lot better now than the previous years.
5:Five young Malditas chose to play for the Lady Booters in the UAAP. They are Inna Palacios, Toni Nolasco, Angel Metillo, Megan Diaz, and Erika Turtur. Gaining international experience before playing in college, the Maldita rookies’ performances will be crucial for the Lady Booters’ run for the championship.
6:Inside the first round, two rookies have started to open their goal accounts. Angelo Diamante and Charleston Uy, both from Ateneo de Davao University, have combined for six goals in the team’s six games. Four of the goals came from Diamante while Uy provided the other two.
7:Since DLSU joined the UAAP, the Lady Booters have established itself as a football powerhouse. The team has accumulated seven championships since. All throughout the team’s stay in the UAAP, the ladies have never ended the tournament in a position lower than third. The ladies have consistently been considered a title favorite. Now at fourth place, the Lady Booters will surely push the team’s limit to preserve its championship pedigree.
14:This season, Coach Hans Smit tapped the services of 14 frosh students to be a part of his UAAP lineups. Seven will be playing for the Green Booters while the other seven have joined the Lady Booters. With the inclusion of the first-timers, both the Green and Lady Booters are now relatively young teams. The men and women’s teams also have three and five sophomores respectively. Altogether, these young bloods will play a huge role in the teams’ title bids today since a good number of them will contribute to the Booters’ performances.
20:Last season, the DLSU football teams contributed 20 points to DLSU’s failed General Championship bid. Meanwhile, UST’s football teams have given the Quadricentennial University seven points more than their Lasallian counterparts. This year, the Green and Lady Booters have set their sights on the championships.
170:In between the games against FEU, NU and ADMU, the Green Booters’ preserved a clean sheet that lasted 170 minutes. Since Tamaraw Booter Noli Chavez’s goal in the 87th minute of La Salle’s season-opener against FEU, the Green Booters have not failed to save a goal until Ateneo’s Valentino Calvo found a way past DLSU Goalkeeper Patrick Deyto. The Blue Booter’s 77th minute breakthrough goal halted the stretch to 170 minutes. Going back from the preseason, DLSU’s specialty in the preseason championship was defense.
196:It took the Lady Booters three games to record a goal this season. After failing to score against FEU and UP, the Lady Booters finally scored in the 16th minute of the match against UST via Karla Pacificador’s penalty kick conversion. So far, the La Salle women’s XI has only scored two goals. The other goal came from Isabel Montelibano’s last minute goal in the same match. To take an unprecedented ninth championship to Taft Avenue, the girls know that the team has to score more goals in the second round of the season.
Erratum: The DLSU Lady Booters has won eight (8) championships since it joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines instead of seven (7).
