UAAP: Green Booters win second straight, Lady Booters battle ADMU to standstill

After stumbling out of the gates with two losses, the DLSU Green Booters picked up their second straight win with a 1-0 victory over the NU Bulldogs. Meanwhile, the DLSU Lady Booters had a heart-breaking draw as they confronted the ADMU Lady Eagles and finished with a 1-1 final score in their last match of the first round.

Green Booter Gelo Diamante played in his first game of the season after he was sidelined for the first three matches due to a bout with dengue. He made sure to announce his arrival in grand fashion as he scored the lone goal of the match in the top left corner for the Green Booters in the 17th minute of the first half.

For the Lady Booters, their draw with ADMU was a heartbreaker as they dictated the first half of the match. The team pushed and infiltrated the left flank as soon as the match started as Niky Scott led the attack with several lob passes to the forwards while ADMU’s offense was thwarted before getting a chance to set up. The relentless pursuit for the first goal of the match bore fruit by the 32^nd minute as Cha Guancia received the ball from a lob pass and managed to break away. She eventually chipped the ball above the keeper towards the back of the net for the first goal of the match.

With only a minute away from a 1-0 victory, the Lady Booters faced a desperate attack from their Blue-and-White opponents. A deflected shot by DLSU’s goal keeper Inna Palacios found its way to Cam Rodriguez of ADMU who scored off a well-timed header just before the end of the match.

DLSU head coach Hans Smit addressed Ateneo’s equalizer, saying, “[It was just] one mistake, one mental lapse. Instead of pushing the ball up, the ball got intercepted”. He also shares, “There was no problem in our offense. We just played the same way. We played the wings”.

Despite the draw, the Lady Booters find themselves knotted up with FEU in the UAAP Women’s Football standings with four points behind the league-leading UST Tigresses who have seven. One weekend remains for the first round of Women’s Football action though the Lady Booters will be on bye as they have already completed all of their assignments, thus their next match will be played in January after the holiday break.

The Green Booters, on the other hand, have a tough battle ahead of them as they face the reigning UAAP champions, the ADMU Blue Eagles, in their next match on December 15, Sunday, at 3 pm. DLSU currently finds itself tied with UP in the Men’s Football standings with six points, behind league-leading FEU and current second-placer UE.