TanHoldings on top; Kanoa rises

Kanoa Football Club’s Andruw Omelau takes a shot for one of his five goals in their 10-6 win over Victory in Division A of the 2020 Spring Men’s M-League last Sunday at the Oleai Sports Complex Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

TanHoldings Football Club took the early lead, while Kanoa Football Club quickly bounced back, as the two teams prevailed in their respective Division A matches in the 2020 Spring Men’s M-League last Sunday at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.

TanHoldings gained the solo top spot in the team standings after earning its second victory in as many games following a 2-1triumph over All Blue.

Martin Jambor scored the pair of goals for TanHoldings with his shot in the 67th minute completing the come-from-behind win for the squad. His first goal was recorded in the 56th minute, allowing TanHoldings to knot the count after All Blue had the lead for a long time.

A goal from Oliver Fajardo right in the second minute of the game gave All Blue the upper hand early in the curtain-raiser of the triple-header last weekend.

In the nightcap, Kanoa was on target for a 10-6 win over Victory, while the Old B Bank and Paire settled for a draw in the second match, 1-1.

Andruw Omelau starred in Kanoa’s first victory of the season, as he fired five goals, three were made in succession. The forward hit the board first in the 46th minute, while his next three were posted in a span of eight minutes (56th, 58th, and 64th), helping Kanoa turn a 3-1 halftime lead to a 7-2 advantage.

Sebastien Manabat, J.C. Piring, and Christian Buno delivered the three earlier goals, while Markus Toves added one four minutes after Omelau got his fourth to seal the deal.

Victory was late to counter the Omelau-led attack of Kanoa, as the losing squad did not make it to the board anew until the 70th mark of the game. It drew three goals from Bada Lee (70th, 87, and 89th minute) and one from Don Cabrera (72nd), but these were not enough to bring Victory back into the game, as Kanoa registered two more goals—courtesy of Omelau in the 82nd and Kirt Andon in the 84th.

In the Paire-Old B Bank standoff, Jireh Yobech recorded the equalizer for the former in the 43rd minute, 10 minutes after Timothy Tawanpiy handed the latter the shaky lead.

DIVISION B
WNT 3, Shirley’s 3
In the second game in Division B last Monday, the CNMI Women’s National Team foiled Shirley’s bid for second win.

Britanny Wally posted the game-tying goal in the 75th minute, while the WNT’s two other goals came from Jannah Casarino and Katrina Costales.

Shirley, which was behind at halftime (1-2) as only Mingguang Xu scored in the first half, got one goal apiece from Longwen Ji (46th minute) and Irish Pagarao (50th) to steal the lead. Shirley’s, however, failed to take the win, as Wally saved the day for the WNT.

Despite the loss, Shirley’s remains on top of the team standings in division, but not far behind are Matansa and Island Star.

Matansa 2, Island Star 0
Matansa matched Island Star’s 1-0-1 win-draw-loss record after prevailing in their duel, also last Monday.

Gabriel Arkoh and Amzad Khan logged the two goals for Matansa.