The DLSU Women’s Football Team kicked off its second round campaign with a come-from-behind win against the FEU Lady Tamaraws, 2-1, earlier today at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. Portia Acibar scored the first goal of the game at the 23rd minute with a long distance shot while Kyra Dimaandal came away as the hero for La Salle with goals at the 53rd and 87th minute.
Physical first half
The Lasallians had their passes misplaced most of the first half, thus giving the Lady Tamaraws the opportunity to hog most of the possession and create attacking chances. Even though DLSU had a few unsuccessful passes, the Green-and-White still managed to test Joy Chavez, the FEU goalkeeper.
At the 12th minute, DLSU earned a corner kick and the ball bounced close to Irish Najava. She reacted quick and attempted a shot, which was easily caught by Chavez. A minute later, it was Sara Castaneda’s turn to attempt a shot. Castaneda found her way inside the box, but her shot was too strong and went wide.
FEU finally broke the deadlock with a long distance shot from Portia Acibar. “That was my fault, I take full responsibility of that. Napatid ako sa sarili ko pero it’s always a lesson learned to me. We can’t be perfect, so every mistake, you learn from it,” Inna Palacios shared her thoughts on the goal.
“I was really going for [the ball]. I wanted to catch it in the air [so there would be no] first bounce because I saw someone coming in. And then when I took off, my other foot slid or I think I hit myself in the air, or I don’t know. I pretty sure you guys saw it was awkward take-off, so yeah, it was my bad,” Palacios further explained.
Just before the half ended, Castaneda took a free kick near the edge of the box. Her attempt was on target, but it was comfortably saved by Chavez.
“The first half, there was no communication, they were just playing for the sake of playing. There was really no teamwork, all the players were doing the wrong things,” head coach Hans Smit shared after the game.
Energetic second half
It was a different story in the second half as the Lasallians stepped up their game and were able to dictate the pace of the match. They were livelier and started to move more fluidly on the pitch.
Palacios was quickly tested by FEU at the very first minute of the second half with a low shot, but it did not yield another goal. The team from Taft countered with Dimaandal leading the way. Dimaandal attempted a shot which was denied by Chavez. The junior produced a brilliant goal as Chavez was unable to save her shot.
Smit made his first change in the game with Chelo Hodges coming in for Nicole Andaya. The substitution seemed to worked wonders for Smit as Hodges was lively down the right flank. The junior was able to give a different dimension for the La Salle offense as she ran past defenders and provided a spark off the bench.
Dimaandal continued to push for a second goal with a few more chances after the substitution of Hodges. She launched another shot outside the box, but it was deflected by her own teammate, Kyla Inquig, which led to the ball hitting the post. Dimaandal got away from the FEU defense and attempted another shot which went over the bar as she was also flagged for being offside.
La Salle’s offensive charge carried on behind Castaneda. The sophomore was able to get inside the box, but her shot went over the bar again. A couple of minutes later, she made a cunning run inside the box and was found by Navaja. Navaja produced a cross after running down the left flank, but Castaneda was not able to connect with the ball as Chavez reacted more quickly for an interception.
Castaneda’s determined efforts paved the way for the game-winning goal. She had the space and time to attempt a shot inside the box, but her shot was denied. Dimaandal was the first one to react and get the rebound as she tapped the ball to the back of the net at the 87th minute.
“I told her, Kyra, you gotta redeem yourself because the last game, you were zero,” said Smit. He commented further, “She has been scoring every single game since we started the [Philippine Football Federation] Women’s League, and she’s still injured, but she’s better off now. I was about to take her out, [good thing] I didn’t.”
The Lasallians will seek to extend their unbeaten run to six games versus the ADMU Lady Eagles on Wednesday, March 29, at 3:30 pm in the FEU Diliman Field.
