Bringing Home the Gold
by Sonny Alfonso
Both ladies’ and mens’ futsal varsity teams beat their opponents in tight, exciting UA&P Championship games last Saturday November 11, at UAP’s gymnasium in Ortigas Center, as some forty bleachers of Titans kept up reverberating cheers.
In the opening game, Lady Titans played a seek and search first half against ZES, both teams seeking out the other’s weak spots and trying to overshoot their defenses. ZES, wary of the Titan’s imperturbable defense, tended to leave one or two players in the backfield to catch long passes and score against absent defenders. After ZES made their first goal this way, our defense stiffened to stop them and Nicole Ramores (Titan 2), disentangled from her ZES guard to score from mid court, quickly tying the score at 1 to 1 in the first half.
The second half was more focused, and goalie Joie de Luzuriaga was kept very busy. This frustrated the ZES team, leaving them scoreless in the second half. To end, Mae Salmon (Titan 9) dribbling against a ZES opponent, made a rapid kick straight into the net, giving the Titans a winning score of 2 to 1.
The Lady Titans loved their well deserved gold medals, and in addition, Joie de Luzuriaga as best goalkeeper and Nicole Ramores, MVP joined the ‘Mythical Five.’
The Mens’ Varsity played a fast paced and rougher game against the seasoned Mens’ PWU team. PWU played aggressively in the first half with their number 10 deftly handling the ball; he also won the MVP award. But goalie Patrick Concepcion kept sending the ball back to the Titans. PWU’s Adalin did strike one goal in the first half, all the more enraging the Titans to even it up. Adalin also got a yellow card for illegally blocking our goalie. But surprise of surprises, Jigs Cruz zigzagged through his defenders and kicked one straight into the net! Half-time score 1 to 1.
The second half was rougher with the Titans’ Sagun drawing a yellow card. But he made up for this with a beautiful mid court kick. Soon after, the ref called a foul on PWU’s NO. 7, Adalin, but he roughly argued the foul and invited a red card. Still complaining, the ref forbade him to play. Without their star player, PWU was left much weaker. Although the PWU maintained a strong defense against the Titans, they also failed to score.
Titans brought home their second set of championship gold medals, winning 2 to 1 against PWU. Mythical Five awards went to Patrick Concepcion, Best Goalkeeper; Roberto Orlandez, Golden Boot; and Julian Miranda, best midfield.
