A Sisters of Mary booter battles for a ball possession against a player from Espiritu Sanctu in their U-18 boys match of the 19th Aboitiz Football Cup.
CDN PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANINGO
The Sisters of Mary Boystown football team and the Espiritu Sanctu FC opened the boys under-18 action of the 19th Aboitiz Football Cup with a pulse-stopping, 4-4, draw at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) yesterday.
The newly formed Sisters of Mary Boystown football team headed by veteran coach Eleazar Toledo who also coaches the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) football tournament, looked headed for an easy win after surging to a, 4-0 lead.
Joshua Catedral scored at the seventh minute while Mark Jacob Bejo and Elvin Appua added one goal each at the 28th and 44th minutes, respectively as the Sisters of Mary Boystown ended the half with a, 3-0 lead.
They even managed to make it 4-0 at the start of the second half on Neil Dexter Arevalo’s 64th-minute conversion.
However, Espiritu Sanctu FC leaned on the double goals of Charlton Lawas and Nico Oyas to salvage the 4-4 draw and save the team from suffering its first ever setback.
In the under-15 boys division, Paref Springdale Titans crushed Samanthabadra Educational Institute, 20-0, to log its first win. The players of former Queen City United head coach Mario Ceniza finished the first half with an, 8-0 lead then pinned Samanthabadra Educational Institute further with 12 more goals in the second half.
The officials of the 19th Aboitiz Football Cup were not able to get the full names of the players who scored for Paref Springdale.
The first day of the 19th Aboitiz Football Cup was supposed to be held at the Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC) football field in barangay Punta Princesa and at the Paref Springdale pitch in barangay Lahug but due to the past days’ incessant rains, the pitches in the aforementioned venues were rendered unplayable cutting the more than 30 matches to two.
Tournament officials have yet to announce the next schedule of the postponed matches.