Lasallians pick the best sporting moment of the year

A year ago, many things were uncertain for Lasallians with regards to the sporting world.

UST still reigned as the 14-time UAAP General Champions though for the nth time, DLSU was right up there challenging for the top spot. The Lady Spikers, on the other hand, had several doubters after they lost their opening UAAP 75 game to the UST Tigresses. Meanwhile, the Green Archers continued to seek their identity after finishing fourth place a season after failing to qualify for the semifinals.

Fast forward to one year later and DLSU is now on top of the UAAP with everyone else playing catch-up. Recently, The LaSallian conducted an online survey to determine what was the top DLSU sporting moment of the year gone by, and the results were not surprising at all.

Collecting the highest number of votes were the Green Archers as their 71-69 Game 3 overtime win which clinched the UAAP championship against the UST Growling Tigers garnered 31.5 percent of the total votes. It was truly a pleasant surprise for Lasallians after the Green Archers stumbled out of the gates and finished the first round with a 3-4 win-loss record. From that point, they then won 11 out of their next 12 games including nine straight victories to clinch their first title since 2007.

Coming in second place with 20.6 percent of the votes was DLSU’s UAAP Season 75 General Championship (GC) which the school won in March 2013. It was DLSU’s first ever GC and at the expense of UST who were relegated to second place. It was a grand culmination of all the combined efforts of the school’s administration, the Office of Sports Development, the alumni and of course, the athletes. This season, DLSU looks poised to win it all once again.

Rounding out the top three is Green Archer Jeron Teng’s short jumper at the buzzer which beat the ADMU Blue Eagles in the second round of the UAAP eliminations. Teng shrugged off a poor shooting performance to deliver the final blow on an isolation play. It was a pivotal win for the Green Archers against their arch rivals as both teams entered the match with identical records and extended winning streaks. The Green Archers eventually built on the momentum and qualified for the top four then won the championship, while the Blue Eagles never recovered and finished at fifth place, ending their five year reign as UAAP champions.

The Lady Spikers’ three-peat garnered the third most votes, collecting 9.7 percent. After losing their opening game, the Lady Spikers made it a point to focus on each and every match and they won 16 consecutive games, with the last one sealing the championship against the ADMU Lady Eagles. It was the last hurrah for Michele Gumabao and Melissa Gohing, but UAAP co-MVPs Abigail Marano and Ara Galang remain along with the rest of their talented crew for their four-peat bid this season.