UAAP: Green Booters fall to FEU, slide to 4th place

Needing a win to seal a Final Four berth, the DLSU Green Booters came out aggressive against the FEU Tamaraws and even scored the first goal of the match. However, they would fall to the league-leading Tamaraws, 2-1, with the loss allowing UST to overtake them for third place in the standings.

On the other hand, the DLSU Lady Booters were eliminated from finals contention with a 2-1 loss to the FEU Lady Tamaraws. After Nicole Andaya scored the equalizer in the 41st minute, FEU’s Barbie Sobredo scored the go-ahead goal in the 61st minute.

The Lady Booters are currently at the bottom of the table with just five points while FEU’s win puts them in a tie with UST for first place with 12 points, but they have the superior goal difference. One final match remains for the Lady Booters as they are set to face the UP Lady Maroons on February 9 at 10 am in FEU-Diliman.

Almost but not quite

A cross from Green Booter Greggy Yang found sophomore Gelo Diamante who scored off a header in the 12th minute for the match’s opening goal. Diamante’s goal, his fourth of the season, gave La Salle a 1-0 lead early on in the match and the Green Booters seemed poised to pull off an upset against the Tamaraws.

Within the next 25 minutes of the match though, FEU’s Eric Giganto scored a goal off a rebound in the 21st minute and followed it up with another in the 37th minute to swing the Tamaraws ahead for good. The rest of the match was a back and forth affair, with each team having an equal share of possession, although La Salle was unable to capitalize on its chances and suffered another defeat at the hands of FEU.

Semifinal scenarios

The Green Booters are now at fourth place behind FEU and UP, who are both locked into the top spots and have secured a twice-to-beat advantage, and UST. The fifth place UE Red Warriors trail DLSU by just two points in the standings, and a win by the former in their next assignment against FEU on February 6, Thursday coupled with a loss by La Salle in their final match will eliminate the Green Booters from contention.

A win by UE and a draw by DLSU in their respective final matches will result in a tie in the standings which will force a play-off for the last semi-final slot on February 13, Thursday.

If the Green Booters simply win their final elimination round match against NU at 3 pm on February 9, Sunday in FEU-Diliman, they will tie UST in the standings; if La Salle outscores its opponents by at least two goals, they can reclaim the third seed.