The Far Eastern University (FEU) men’s football team ended their two-game draw streak with a victory over National University (NU), 2-1, in their season 81 campaign in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s football tournament, March 7, at the FEU Diliman football field in Quezon City.

Coming from a draw match with University of the Santo Tomas (UST) and Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), FEU managed to charge back with a couple of goals despite the high physicality of the game.

“Actually, we practiced to protect our base and have a plan to counter-attack after striking a point against the opponent,” FEU head coach Bo Bae Park stated.

At exactly 19:32 in the match, FEU’s Gilbert Mendoza marked the first point of the game after cleaning up a missed strike by Tams captain Pio Saldivar. On the other hand, Tamaraw Resty Monterona flaunted huge defensive stops on NU striker Angelo Paring which paved a way for FEU to take a 2-0 advantage courtesy of Saldivar in the 33rd minute mark of the game.

The Bulldogs mustered a late scare after Ivan Ouano tried to lift his team in the final minutes of the game.

“Against UST and Ateneo, we allowed them to goal in the last minute. This time, I told our players to keep the mentality and practice organized defense until the final mark of the game,” coach Park added.

Moreover, FEU goalkeeper Dave Parac stayed resilient in showing an excellent way of protecting the last line of defense.

“Sa past two games namin, panalo na dapat kami, nand’on na ‘yung lamang then last minute naka-goal pa sila kaya dapat talaga ‘di mag gi-give up (In our past two games, we should have won it, the lead is already on our side but we let them score in the last minute that is why we must not give up),” Parac said.

After the Bulldogs scored, the FEU turned up their defensive pressure to its maximum.

“‘Yung mentality na hindi pa tapos ‘yung time dapat hindi mag give up, at nand’on ‘yung mindset namin na makuha na ‘yung panalo (Our mentality to not give up and our mentality to grab the win stayed until we finish the game),” Parac shared.

The green-and-gold booters now post a 2-2-0 win-draw-loss record in the tournament. They will face the defending champions University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons on Sunday, March 10 at the same venue.

-Hillary Dana D. Estacio and Joaquin Luis E. Quesada
(See full album: UAAP 81 Men's Football - FEU vs NU)