UST stays alive in women's football

University of Santo Tomas kept its title-retention bid after blanking top-seed but short-handed La Salle, 2-0, to force a winner-take-all match for the 72nd UAAP women's football crown yesterday at the Ateneo Erenchun Field in Quezon City.

Last year's Rookie of the Year Marianne Narciso, on pace to win the best striker honors, scored two goals as the Tigresses capitalized on the absence of the Lady Archers' resident goalkeeper Hannah Ibarra to extend the finals series to another game on Sunday.

Narciso, who had seven goals during the elimination round, made La Salle's substitute keeper Marie Celine Ampil's life a living hell when she made a strike just three minutes into the contest to put UST on the board.

Then, the sophomore striker put enough cushion in the 81st minute when she got all alone in transition then kicked it past Ampil's arms to seal the Espana-based squad's third-straight postseason victory over the squad of renowned coach Hans Smit.

"Malaking tulong din na nainjured yung goalkeeper nila dahil yung substitute nila medyo hindi pa sanay sa mga ganitong sitwasyon," said UST mentor Rozano Estraban.

It was the second straight time that the Tigresses forced a rubber match for the crown. They were also in the same situation last year when they beat the Lady Archers to capture their first-ever crown.

UST bagged the last finals berth last Sunday when it forced a scoreless draw with Far Eastern University on the final day of the elimination round that enabled the Taft-based squad to secure top spot and a twice-to-beat edge in the championship round.

The absence of Ibarra will severely hurt La Salle's chances of winning its first title since completing a four-peat in 2006 after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in practice. She missed last week's shock 1-0 loss to University of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Ateneo defeated FEU-Nicanor Reyes Educational Foundation, 4-3, via a shootout in Game 1 of their best-of-three series for the juniors division crown. Both teams were scoreless after 90 minutes to force a shootout.