PAREF Southridge achieved a surprising 1-0 victory over the defending champions, University of Santo Tomas (UST), during the UAAP Season 88 boys” football tournament held on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium. The standout moment came from Francis Poticano, who netted the decisive goal in the 66th minute, marking his second consecutive match finding the back of the net.
Despite UST”s efforts to mount a comeback, they were unable to breach Southridge”s resolute defense. The trio of attackers for UST, consisting of Stan Biag, Xin Salanatin, and Andres Barabat, struggled to convert their opportunities, with all three shots failing to find the target.
In other matches of the day, Adamson University managed to secure a late equalizer against Ateneo de Manila University, resulting in a 1-1 draw. The Baby Falcons” captain, Rian Solaiman, scored a last-minute goal during stoppage time, which canceled out an earlier goal from Ateneo”s substitute striker, Joaquin Goduco, who had found the net in the 74th minute.
The final game of the triple-header featured FEU-D, who bounced back from their recent loss to UST by defeating De La Salle Zobel 2-0. Left-winger Justin Madeja initiated the scoring in the 38th minute, and substitute Sambher Abrenica capped off the win with a goal in the 90+5th minute. La Salle was left lamenting missed opportunities, particularly when Jayden Gayoso”s chance to score in the 21st minute was thwarted by a key save from FEU-D goalkeeper Gianne Abara.
The first round of the tournament will wrap up this Tuesday, coinciding with the celebrations of the Chinese New Year. Upcoming matches include Claret facing UST at 2 PM, Ateneo taking on FEU-D at 4:30 PM, and Southridge meeting DLSZ in the evening at 7 PM.
