After defeating the UP Lady Maroons and the UST Lady Tigers in their first two games, the DLSU Women’s Football Team continued its fine form, rolling past archrivals, the ADMU Lady Eagles, 3-0, yesterday in the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Kyra Dimaandal scored the only goal of the first half as she found the net at the 41st minute. Nicole Andaya and Irish Navaja each scored a goal at the 55th and 69th minute marks, respectively, to finish off the game.
Entertaining first half
The team from Katipunan quickly earned a free kick to start the match, but Tiffany Siy’s header was saved by DLSU’s goalkeeper, Inna Palacios. ADMU’s team captain, Cam Rodriguez, continued the attack minutes later. Rodriguez was able to enter DLSU’s box, but she was not able to attempt a shot having controlled the ball long enough for the La Salle defense to cover ground.
La Salle was forced to an early change when Toni Nolasco went down with an injury and was replaced by Christine Duran. ADMU did not seemed to be bothered by the change in the DLSU backline as it continued to push on for a goal. Antonette Amoncio slithered her way inside the box, but was eventually denied by DLSU’s Mariell Tejada. ADMU’s Beatrice Velasco was the next one to test the DLSU defense, but her shot went wide.
The Lasallians countered back with Inquig and Sara Castaneda leading the way. Inquig received a through ball from her teammate at the 17th minute mark, but fumbled her shot attempt following her decent first touch with the ball. She attempted another shot attempt afterwards, but her shot went wide. Castaneda then tried to score the first goal of the game, but her header was saved by ADMU goalkeeper Marrie Caparros. A minute after her header was saved, Castaneda came close to scoring once more as she hit the crossbar.
Nine minutes after ADMU’s miss from close range, DLSU broke the deadlock. Inguig’s cross was blocked by an ADMU defender and the ball bounced near Dimaandal, who quickly found the back of the net as the Lasallians brought a 1-0 lead over their archrivals into halftime.
Dominant second half
It was a change of tone come the second half, with the Green-and-White pressing on the attack menacingly. Much of DLSU’s offense was instigated from the right wing, with Irish Navaja being the catalyst. Coming from the left flank, Nicole Andaya scored the game’s second goal off a ricocheted attempt by Inquig at the center, slotting the ball in to give La Salle a 2-0 lead.
The Lasallians continued to dominate ball possession and had numerous occasions where they found themselves at the cusp of another goal. Missed attempts on goal by Nina Arrieta and Inquig well inside the Lady Eagle box kept Caparros on her toes.
The third goal came when Navaja found herself alone in the right wing. She ran into the box and eventually sent the ball way past substitute goalkeeper Jana Morales to the top left corner and through to the back of the net. “It was amazing! I didn’t know it was going in. It was [a] wonderful, beautiful [finish] from Irish,” Dimaandal shared after the game.
Even though La Salle held a three goal advantage over ADMU, the Green-and-White continued to push for more scoring opportunities. “We could’ve scored more, but it’s just that we had some errors and I think we could fix those in training,” Dimaandal said after the game.
DLSU will seek to end the first round of eliminations unbeaten versus the FEU Lady Tamaraws on Saturday, March 11, at 3 pm, at the same venue. “Against FEU, we need to score early. FEU is still [a] dangerous team no matter what. I mean, all the teams in the UAAP are very dangerous,” head coach Hans Smit concluded.
