Green Booters notch first win, UE’s Arboleda scores 4th goal of the season

By Anton Roxas Posted Nov 29th 2013

With the match tied at 1-1, Gregory Yang hit a long ball from close to the halfway line that soared over the defenders of the University of the Philippines including their goalkeeper, Ace Villanueva. The ball bounced off the pitch and straight into the head of Iñigo Gonzales, who was positioned close to the left side of the goal. The second year player calmly scored on a header to give De La Salle University the lead.

Gonzales’ goal turned out to be the deciding factor of the match as DLSU would go on to beat UP, 2-1, in their first round meeting in the UAAP Season 76 Men’s Football tournament held on Friday, November 29, 2013 in FEU-Diliman.

It was the first win of the season for the Green Booters, something that DLSU Head Coach Hans Smit made sure they would get.

“La Salle has never lost three straight games to start the season. I told my players we should win this game no matter what. UP came from a loss but so did we. It was all about pride and if we didn’t do anything now, we would fall too far behind in the standings. One game at a time. It’s just one win. That’s it,” said Smit.

With the victory, DLSU’s record is now at 1-2 with their first two losses coming against the University of Sto. Tomas and the University of the East.

When asked about what was lacking with his players, the fiery coach was quick to respond.

“Attitude. Urgency. They need to put that in their heart and in their head. Everytime they play, it’s like a championship game. We can’t relax. Not even for a second. We have to keep rushing the opponent, never give up on defense.”

In the first match, defending champion Ateneo de Manila University dealt UST its first defeat of the season by winning, 1-0. Jacobo Lorenzo scored the lone goal of the match during the 26th minute. The Blue Booters and the Golden Booters now have identical records at 1 win and 1 loss.

The second match of the day saw UE dominate National University, 2-0, to take solo first place in the team standings with a 3-0 record. Fitch Arboleda tallied his fourth goal of the season in the 55th minute of the match. Ariel Mallen would add another goal in the 66th minute.

NU remained winless at 0-2 while idle Far Eastern University fell to second place behind UE with a 2-0 record.