By Paulo Diesta

Last Sunday, February 4, the Ateneo Blue Eagles  and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers closed round one of UAAP Season 86 Football with a tie score of 1-1.

Held at the University of the Philippines Diliman Track and Field Oval, the tight match between the Blue Eagles and Growling Tigers ended with the latter clinching a game-tying goal.

1st Half

On the onset of the first half, the forwards of UST immediately gained possession of the ball and drove it towards Ateneo’s side of the field. 

It was a defensive effort of both the offense and defense of Ateneo in order to contain UST’s aggressive plays in the early minutes of the match. Despite UST’s efforts, the defenders were able to intercept the ball away from Ateneo’s goal. 

With the first half of the match focused on Ateneo’s side of the field, UST got a couple of scoring opportunities which ended a few meters off the goal. Some goal attempts from UST corner kicks were blocked by the goalkeeper to maintain a tied game.

However, during the final minutes of the first half, Ateneo’s forwards were able to finally break through UST’s hold and gain ground towards the latter’s side of the field. 

This break gave the Ateneo Blue Eagles a few goal opportunities of their own, which were defended by UST’s goalkeeper. Shortly after, the linesmen whistled to signal the end of the first half.

Second Half

Once halftime ended, players from Ateneo and UST began the second half with a kick off that ended in an Ateneo possession.

Ateneo players passed the ball to each other, and were able to weave through the tight UST defense, allowing them more chances for scoring a goal; however, they were constantly intercepted by either the defenders or UST’s goalkeeper.

The second half witnessed more offensive plays from Ateneo, which were quickly repelled by their opponents.

After a few minutes elapsed, UST was able to push past Ateneo’s offense and drag the match towards the other field. 

While UST’s offense was able to muster some well-coordinated goal attempts, these fell against the hands of Ateneo’s goalkeeper as the team fiercely defended any shots directed at the goal. 

A back and forth exchange occurred, with a goal highly probable on both sides. During one of Ateneo’s pushes towards the goal, their offense were able to conduct good passes to create good openings for a goal. 

Xian Tumang (12-Evans) scored for Ateneo when he kicked the ball, bouncing into UST’s goal. With the current score at 1-0, Ateneo sought to extend their advantage by leading the offense once again.

Their aggressive plays led to more goal attempts, but were met with UST’s defense. The Growling Tigers were able to gain ball control a few times, which they utilized to bring the game towards Ateneo’s goal.

There were only a couple of seconds left, and Ateneo had the lead to cap off the match. UST passed the ball around and created space, which gave their offense a well-timed shot right through Ateneo’s goalkeeper and clutching a game-tying shot.

The referees whistled to signal the end of the match, resulting in a draw with the score listed at 1-1.

Post-Match

When asked about the preparations the team took against UST, the Team Captain of the Ateneo Blue Eagles Raiken Comla recounted his team’s efforts in order to perform at this level.

“Nung pre-season we trained a lot. I swear na mga everyday na ata. ‘Cause we wake up at four in the morning [until] seven and we train by 4 P.M… We did that every week, non-stop talaga,” he mentioned.

Although he viewed the game-tying goal of UST in the final seconds as upsetting, Comla firmly stated his role as a team captain to “stay positive, be a role model, and move on.”

“Every game talaga. Even if we win, there is always room for improvement. That’s the kind of mindset our team has. And, in our game earlier, we saw a lot of lapses, and we have to work on it,” he noted.

Similar sentiments were shared by Xian Tumang, who scored Ateneo’s goal, after UST’s unexpected last second clincher to end the match in a draw.

“We were all upset, but it was not a single player’s fault. I feel like we really just got unlucky, and we’ve played our hearts out. I think we played our best game yet so it’s really just unlucky.” he said.

At the end of the day, this was just a small step in the vast journey of the Ateneo Blue Eagles Boys’ Football Team. 

“We’re gonna work on our mistakes, and we’ll just keep on doing what we’ve been doing every day” Tumang remarked.