Four years, four finals appearances, and four silver finishes—the DLSU Lady Booters have come agonizingly close to the summit time and time again, only to find the FEU Lady Tamaraws standing between them and gold. Their string of four consecutive silver finishes shows consistency, but they have become less an accomplishment and more a reminder of what remains out of reach.
As Season 89 approaches, the Lady Booters carry the lessons and frustrations of those finals runs with one objective in mind: to finally break through.
Fueling redemption
For the Lady Booters, the weight of silver finishes goes beyond the medal itself. Each finals appearance has reinforced a growing sense of unfinished business, especially among veterans who have experienced the heartbreak firsthand.
“After four years, it’s been very, very frustrating,” Team Captain Jessica Pido admitted. “Me and Chenny [Dañoso], we’ve been very vocal [that] we’re so tired of losing,” she added, preparing to close her chapter with the Green Booters following this season.
Yet, the repeated finals runs have also taught the squad what it takes to overcome the final hurdle. Steph Goñe emphasized the need to maintain their fight until the final whistle: “We really have to fight for it. We have to know, and we have to learn [that] we don’t give up easily.”
Beyond their resolve on the pitch, the Lady Booters also identified team chemistry as an area to improve on after Season 88. With new coaches and players joining the squad, the 2026 PFF Women’s League served as an early test of cohesion, giving opportunities for other players to step up amid key players’ injuries. Rather than treating it as a preseason tune-up, the Lady Booters used valuable playing time to build chemistry and assess roster depth.
The tournament also reinforced midfielder Chenny Dañoso’s growing responsibility. After finishing as the fifth-leading scorer, she recognized the need to take on a larger leadership role in the absence of key players, stating how she “[needs] to step up and need i-lead din ‘yung team namin kasi ayun nga, wala sila.”
(I need to step up and lead the team since, as mentioned, key players are missing.)
For Dañoso, that urgency goes beyond ending the drought—it is about bringing the championship back to La Salle. “Four years, parang sinabi ni Jecca [Pido], pagod na talaga kaming matalo. Gusto din naming ipakita sa FEU na kaya namin and gusto namin maibalik ‘yung [championship] sa La Salle.”
(Four years, as mentioned by Jecca [Pido], we’re tired of losing. We want to show FEU that we can, and we want to bring the championship back to La Salle.)
Pido, meanwhile, underscored the frustration behind those words, recognizing the weight of her departure. The team captain firmly asserted that stepping away after five consecutive silver medal finishes only fails to reflect the standard they worked hard to build and uphold.
Tactical calibration and strategic reset
To translate lingering heartbreak into tangible results, the Green-and-White turned inward during the offseason to reconfigure their mindset. Under a revamped coaching staff, the squad recalibrated their focus on mental fortitude and tactical intellect. “With our new coaches, I feel like they really give importance to our mental health, our recovery, and our game IQ, our football IQ,” veteran Pido emphasized. She added that exposing the newfound roster to a wider variety of in-game situations and prioritizing attitudes both on and off the pitch has ultimately made them “better as a team now.”
This discipline demanded a swift transformation across the squad’s internal dynamics, particularly the relationship between veterans and newcomers. Rather than succumbing to the traditional hierarchy that caused a “barrier between rookies and seniors” last season, the Lady Booters intentionally dismantled these boundaries and embraced mutual accountability.
“I feel like, this season, we started to mesh with the younger girls better and with the rookies,” Pido shared, pointing out that their daily training sessions now thrive on being more open to suggestions and criticisms. Dañoso agreed, emphasizing their effort to make new players comfortable and foster stronger chemistry. This combination of fresh eagerness and veteran poise has fortified their foundation, with Jodi Banzon noting that everyone is now “really working together as a team, even in and out [of] the pitch.”
The team leadership has emphasized that passive play is a thing of the past, and that they are expected to be recognized for their initiative and quality. Goñe encapsulated this renewed philosophy perfectly, stating that their main goal for Season 89 is for the Lasallian community to recognize them as “a team who is proactive inside and outside the field.”
The final hurdle
After four straight years of coming up short in the finals against the Lady Tamaraws, the Lady Booters share a collective exhaustion that has morphed into fierce determination. For the veterans, this final collegiate campaign represents a closing window to rewrite history. Pido admits the mounting frustration over the years, making it clear that a runner-up finish is no longer an acceptable conclusion to their journey.
This burning hunger resonates deeply with the younger core, who are stepping up to bear the weight of the championship pressure alongside their seniors. Dañoso draws motivation from the alumni who left without a gold medal, dedicating this season’s campaign to the ID 119 graduates and her departing captain. Banzon notes that the daunting pressure of the recent campaign remains. However, she views this heavy expectation not as a burden, but as the necessary push, the fuel to elevate her own game. The young core understands that honoring their seniors means giving their all to end the agonizing title drought.
Overcoming the mental hurdle of the FEU cycle requires a unified front. Football demands a connected unit where individual brilliance takes a backseat to collective excellence. Banzon encapsulated the team’s renewed philosophy entering the season: “A bow is nothing without an archer,” the incoming sophomore reflected.
Her words highlight a poignant reality: the Lady Booters won’t hit their championship target without every single player working in unison. For the ladies, the ghosts of four consecutive runner-up finishes against FEU no longer dictate their narrative. Rather, the agonizing wait has given way to a more proactive, cohesive, and tactically mature roster. With the seasoned veterans drawing their final bow and the rising rookies and sophomores steadying the aim, the Lady Booters march into Season 89 with an unwavering mission. Their eyes are locked on the gold, ready to finally let the arrows fly and shatter their silver ceiling once and for all.
The bow is drawn, and the pressure has only steadied their hands. After weathering a grueling penalty shootout slugfest against UP and escaping the Final Four, the Green-and-White have clawed their way back to the grandest stage. Now staring down another championship collision against the Lady Tamaraws, the Lady Booters have issued a final, unyielding warning: the ghosts of silver have been silenced, the target is locked, and this time, they will not miss.