UAAP: DLSU falls to UP, drops second straight match

The DLSU Men’s Football Team experienced another defeat in the UAAP Season 78 Football Tournament, succumbing to the UP Fighting Maroons yesterday, March 19, at the Mckinley Hill Stadium. As the more aggressive team, UP was able to score one goal in both halves behind the efforts of Feb Baya and Kintaro Miyagi, giving their squad the edge over La Salle.

The match started with DLSU controlling most of the possession, while UP went on the counter attack. Towards the 20th minute of the match, the Fighting Maroons started to hold on to the ball more by launching attack after attack towards the DLSU goal. UP was able to get good chances on goal but were thwarted by DLSU goalkeeper Paeng De Guzman. In the 35th minute, UP’s Patxi Santos shot a free kick which hit the bar of the goal. Moments later, Baya was able to recover the ball in the box and shot the ball past De Guzman to take give the Fighting Maroons a 1-0 lead, one they would hold onto until halftime.

In the start of the second half, UP wasted no time in applying pressure to DLSU. Through controlled possessions and clever plays, the Fighting Maroons were able to gain multiple attempts on goal, with Christian Lapas’ open shot on goal missing the top corner. De Guzman had his work cut out for him as he was kept busy by multiple UP attacks.

Towards the middle of the second half, Miyagi scored for the Fighting Maroons to double the scoreline in the 65th minute. In response, DLSU started creating chances of their own to get back in the game. Javi Romero-Salas and Jojo Borromeo had good attempts on goal, but both were denied by UP’s goalkeeper Ace Villanueva. With not much time left, the Fighting Maroons started to dominate possession in order to maintain their lead over La Salle.

After the match, DLSU co-captain Nace Gonzales shared his views on the result of the match, mentioning that UP was more hungry in this match. Apart from that, he talked about his dissatisfaction with the result and pointed out that the loss will only be a way for the team to get better.

“We just have to learn from this game. We need to show them that we are not down yet… we are going to do our best to get back up. We won’t settle for this, we can’t settle for this,” he shared.
He continued by explaining how the team should approach their upcoming games, saying, “We go in because our first half record was good but we should forget that. We should focus on our next game and not let this loss falter us.”