F. Marinos keeps streak

F. Marinos’ Guine Borja is left open and takes her time before starting a play during their game against Isama United in the girls U17 division of the Saipan Soccer School’s 2017 Youth Summer Futsal Tournament last Friday at the TSL Sports Complex. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Guinvere Borja single-handedly lifted F. Marinos to a 5-1 victory against Isamu United in the girls U17 division game in the Saipan Soccer School’s 2017 Youth Summer Futsal Tournament last Friday at the TSL Sports Complex.

Borja made all five goals of F. Marinos, giving the team its fourth straight win and the solo lead in the four-squad field. F. Marinos, with its 4-0-1 win-draw-loss record, is slightly victory ahead of idle Hakone FC (3-0-1). Isamu United fell to a 1-0-4 card to drop to fourth place behind Marianas Health Armada (1-0-3).

Isamu United, which broke into the win column last Thursday after whipping Marianas Health Armada, 7-0, failed to make it back-to-back after getting only one goal off Therize Millare’s conversion in the first half. The opening 20 minutes of play ended in a tie before F. Marinos controlled the final half, as Isamu United could not contain Borja.

F. Marinos has one more game in the double-round robin preliminary round and it will be against Marianas Health Armada today, while Isamu United will also have its final match this afternoon against Hakone FC. All four teams will advance to the playoffs, which will start this Wednesday with the No. 1 finisher facing the No. 4 ranked squad in the semis and the No. 2 and 3 squads squaring off in the other Final Four pairing. Winners of the semis matches will fight for the division championship this Friday at 3:30pm.

Meanwhile, Saipan Elite is likely to get the top seeding in the boys U16 division following another with last weekend.

Saipan Elite dominated HK SSS, 9-4, to gain a 4-1-0 record and keep the No. 1 spot in the team standings. Merrick Toves and Jaydee Jose scored three goals apiece to hand Saipan Elite the easy victory, while Oliver Fajardo, Oliver Lee, and Rohan Basnet chipped in one apiece.

Dylan Kim nailed a pair for HK SSS, which got one goal each from R.J. Pangelinan and Nazzir Altamirano. HK SSS has yet to win a single game with one more match left in its schedule in the preliminary round, and is likely to challenge Saipan Elite in the semifinals. HK SSS will play its last game before the playoffs tomorrow when it meets 4Gives at 4pm.

4Gives retained the second spot in the team standings following an 11-3 win against NMI U16 (2-0-3) last Friday. Jether Yobech was the leading scorer in 4Gives’ rout of NMI U16 after drilling a hat trick. He got ample support from his teammates, as Kirro Batino, Joyce Angelo Ben, Andruw Omelau, and Nolan Gatharngel contributed two goals each.

John Ezekiel Canape recorded two goals for NMI U16, while Brandon Tenorio added one. NMI U16 will try to finish the preliminary round on a positive note when it collides against Saipan Elite today at 4pm.