Bergancia, Joyce get Golden Boot awards

Kanoa Football Club’s Paulynn Grace Joyce, third left, battles two TanHoldings FC players for the ball during their first round game in the girls U15 division of the NMIFA youth league at the Francisco Mendiola Sablan Middle School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

TanHoldings Football Club’s Anthony Bergancia and Kanoa FC’ Paulynn Grace Joyce scored the most goals in their respective divisions to win the Golden Boot awards in the 2017 NMIFA Youth Spring League.

Joyce collected 18 goals in six games and was the only player in the girls U15 division to break into double figures despite failing to score in Kanoa’s last two matches. She had back-to-back five-goal output in Kanoa’s 15-0 rout of Matansa last March 11 and 10-1 triumph over MP United last March 18. The Hopwood Middle School student started the season by knocking in two goals in their 3-0 win over Paire last Feb. 18 and then tallied three apiece in Kanoa’s next two games against TanHoldings (Feb.25) and Southern United FC (March 4).

With her 18 goals, Joyce more than doubled the output of Shirley’s FC’s Jerlyn Castillo and fellow Kanoa players Ericka Santiago and Princess Alcantara, who earned seven apiece to tie for second place. MP United’s Francesca Bucalig and Southern United’s Keisha Deleon Guerrero were also in a deadlock for third after logging six goals each, while Lilian Podziewski of spring champion Shirley’s was alone at No. 4 with her five goals. There was also a tie for fifth place among Kanoa’s Sharmaine Francisco, Shirley’s Katrina Costales, and MP United’s Fiona Bucalig, who had four apiece.

In the co-ed U12, Bergancia scored in all eight games of TanHoldings in the double-round robin competition to end up with the field-best 26 goals. He was the only player in the division to score 20-plus goals this season, as runner-up Sean Gil of Kanoa-1 came up short after registering only 19.

The diminutive TanHoldings striker had his best output (five goals each) in their 9-5 win over Matansa last Feb. 25 and 9-1 victory over Kanoa-2 last March 4. In their first two games (versus MP United and Kanoa 1) and fifth match of the season (against MP United), he recorded two goals apiece, while he had four in their second meeting against Kanoa-1, and then had three each in TanHoldings’ last two assignments (over Matansa and Kanoa-2).

Besides Bergancia and Gil, nine other players scored at least 10 goals apiece in the division’s spring season, which concluded last April 8. TanHoldings’ Mark Joseph Roque and Angelo Pulido earned 14 apiece to finish third, while there was a three-way tie for fourth with MP United’s Andrew Chung and Garrett Weaver and Kanoa 1’s Daniel Pablo scoring 12 apiece. Kanoa-1’s Markus Toves was at solo fifth with his 11 goals, while MP United’s Kristopher Pascual, Matansa’s Alex Megino, and Kanoa-1’s Jim Kurt Maniago shared the No. 6 spot after collecting 10 each.