UAAP: Late goal lifts Green Booters over Ateneo

With the game on the line in the third minute of injury time after 90 minutes of play, the DLSU Green Booters had one last chance to win a 1-1 affair against the ADMU Blue Eagles.

DLSU’s defender Greggy Yang had a free kick five yards away from the right edge of the penalty box, and senior Al Bustamante received it and scored off a header to give them a 2-1 victory.

After the game, DLSU head coach Hans Smit shared, “Actually, all the chances [in the game] were ours. Officiating still needs a lot of improvement and we need to limit mental lapses. All our losses came from errors and we’ve always lost at the last minute. Our goal this time came at the last minute so we still count our blessings.”

The goal completed a comeback for the Green Booters who found themselves down 1-0 early in the second half despite dominating possession and having several good attempts. The first 65 minutes of the match were goalless but Emman Paredes of Ateneo had an attempt off a scramble which DLSU’s goalkeeper Josh Cruz deflected. Emilio Acosta secured the rebound off Paredes’ miss though and found the back of the net, giving Ateneo a 1-0 lead.

The Green Booters began to apply pressure on Ateneo but they could not get past their defense. Chuckie Uy had a good attempt for DLSU but Jacobo Lorenzo cleared it out with a header in the 71st minute. Four minutes later though, Nace Gonzales’ corner kick was eventually secured by Gelo Diamanté who scored the equalizer.

Things then got tense once again in the 81st minute after La Salle’s Gerald Layumas was called for a handball in the penalty box. Miko Mabanag took the penalty shot but Cruz deflected it, preventing ADMU from taking the lead.

Both teams had decent attempts as time wound down bit they remained scoreless until Bustamante’s goal before the final whistle. The win puts the Green Booters in third place in the UAAP with 9 points behind undefeated FEU and UE who have 15 and 10 points respectively.

Up next for the Green Booters are FEU whom they will face on December 20 at 3 pm in FEU-Diliman. The game will be televised on Studio 23.

Note: Yang was given his second yellow card of the season during the match and will be suspended for the next game against FEU.