By Angel Joyce C. Basa

Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Booters went into an extended finals match to complete their championship title defense against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Booters, 2-1, in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 women's football tourney tonight, May 10, at Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.

Despite the result, the Lady Booters had a hard time obtaining goals during the first half to match an early goal by DLSU’s Maria Layacan at the 16th minute.

Team Captain Dionesa Tolentin answered back with a goal at the 45-minute mark before entering a slow second half.

At the 30-minute extension of the match, Jonela Albiño scored the game-winning goal at the 112th minute.

In a post game interview, FEU Head Coach Let Dimzon pointed out the unpleasant performance of the team and recognized the hard work of her players.

“Since the start ng round one hanggang second round, ang ganda ng play namin, ang ganda ng passing pero today, walang wala ‘yung passing namin, hindi lumabas ‘yung lahat ng play namin. Pero I’m happy kasi ang players ko talaga nagtatrabaho nang husto, so ayun ‘yung pinaka–talagang highlight ko lagi sa team (Since the start of the first round until the second round, our plays were good, as well as our passing buy today, we didn't have good passes and our plays didn't go out. But I’m happy because my players are hardworking, that's the highlight of the team),” she said.

Two Lady Booters earned several individual awards with Judie Arevalo awarded with the Rookie of the Year recognition.  

Meanwhile, Dionesa Tolentin received the Best Striker, Golden Boot, and the Most Valuable Player award.

In the same interview, the multi-awarded Lady Booter shared how their preparations motivated them to win every game in the tournament.

“Nandun pa rin po ‘yung eagerness na panalunin ‘yung game namin kasi ito ‘yung pinaka-importante sa lahat kasi ‘yung preparations namin, maaga kaming nagigising, maraming mga challenges na nararanasan namin, pero ito po ‘yung kinalabasan ng paghihirap namin. Meron po kaming mga lapses pero wala na po ‘yun kasi napanalo po namin ‘yung game (Our eagerness to win the game is there because this is the most important for how we prepared, we faced a lot of challenges but this is the result of it all. We have our lapses but we ignore that because we won the game),” Tolentin said.

The Let Dimzon-lead team is on their 12th championship title in the UAAP women's football tournament.

(Photo by Francis Dait/FEU Athletics)