MANDAUE City held on for a draw with a tough Davao City squad to win the Girls Under 13 division gold medal of the Batang Pinoy national championships at the St. Louis University yesterday.
Mandaue only needed a draw in its final game against Davao as both were tied at 4-1 in the standings. However, Mandaue had three more goals than Davao, which is the first tiebreaker in the league-type tournament.
Mandaue City coach Eleazar “Elying” Toledo told SunStar Cebu that his team had an advantage since they already bonded during their Allianz National Youth Futsal Tournament campaign, where they won the regional and national titles.
“Well it’s not new to me because these girls have showed their caliber in Laguna. They already have a bond not only inside the court but also outside the court,” said Toledo. “We planned on how we would play and the girls played according to plan.”
Coming into the game, Mandaue City was leading in goal difference and needed only a draw to get the gold medal, while their opponent had more pressure of needing a win.
Jodi Marie Banzon drew first blood in the first half but Davao evened the score at 1-1 all before Mish Castañares found the back of the net to give Mandaue City a 2-1 edge at the half. Jospher Halili scored early in the second half to put Mandaue City up 3-1. Davao refused to give up and managed to even the score at 3 but Mandaue City was able to prevent them from scoring despite an injury to goalie Chasie Garciano, who had to go out of the game.
Before the draw with Davao, Mandaue City showed dominance with victories over Pasig, Pangasinan, Baguio and Benguet.
“We really wanted to play. We came here last Thursday and witnessed the typhoon,” said Toledo, referring to typhoon Ompong that made landfall. There were initial talks that the event would be cancelled because of the typhoon.
The U-13 team is composed of players from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, Labogon, Subangdako and the University of Southern Philippines- Foundation.
Cebu failed to make it a sweep in the girls’ division after Cebu Province’s Under-15 team lost to Tanauan City, Batangas, 1-0.
It was the only loss for Cebu Province after dominating its previous five matches. A draw would have meant a gold medal for Cebu Province but Batangas had another thing in mind, scoring in the second half to break the hearts of the Cebuanos.
Cebu Province finished with five wins and one loss for the silver medal, while the gold medalist Batangas had five wins and one draw.
In their five wins, Cebu Province blanked all their opponents, namely: Mandaluyong, Candon, Caloocan, Baguio City and Benguet.
In triathlon, Marielle Estreba of Cebu Province bagged a gold medal in the girls’ 13-15 division. She clocked 50 minutes and 40 seconds to beat Moira Franecs Erediano of Lapu-Lapu City by 36 seconds. Hanny May Yanong of Laguna finished at third place.
Cebu City’s Dhexie Kyle Bersabal won a gold medal in the girls’ 11-12 division after timing 26:46. Juliana Nicole Loberanis finished at second place in 26:39 and Ma Unica Ysabel Bayarong of Olongapo City was third at 27:31.
In the official and partial medal tally from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as of 2 p.m. yesterday, Lucena City was at the top in the overall ranking with a 13-4-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul. Laguna Province sits at second at 13-2-6 and is followed by Quezon City with 10-4-2. RSC