UAAP football: Tigers, Maroons play to stalemate

Heavy rain drenched the Ateneo de Manila High School field in the first half, but a stinging goal drought in the UAAP men's football tournament went unquenched.

 

The University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers settled for a goalless draw with the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons during their first UAAP meet since last year's finals, where the Diliman squad buried the Thomasians two goals deep for the title before the latter slotted a consolation point.

Both teams had their fair share of chances in ending their scoring dry spells, but the keepers and defenders from UST and UP consistently mustered heart-stopping saves throughout the game.

 

Despite having its second scoreless tie in a row, UST remains on top of the ranks with nine points coming from a 2-3-0 win-draw-loss finish at the first round's end on Sunday. But Coach Marjo Allado is aware that the defending champs could bounce back in the second round, and that Far Eastern University is now a threat after a 4-0 thrashing of University of the East.

 

"Yung FEU kasi nasa momemtum sila ngayon, second place (with) eight points (2-2-1), and then UP seven (points) yata because nag-draw kami ngayon," said Allado. "First round pa lang, marami pang games."

 

UP's Coach Anto Gonzales, whose boys failed to get out of a deadlock slump for four games in a row (1-4-0), believed however that his team "played better than our past 3 games."

 

"I'm still very confident," said Gonzales about their title defense. "But we'll take it one game at a time." — AD/RSJ, GMA News