Blowout wins in opening week

The five teams that overwhelmed their opponents in the boys U15 and U18 divisions’ opening games in the 2019 NMIFA Spring Youth League showed little or no signs of rust at all despite not playing in a regular tournament for a while.

In the first match in the boys U15 category at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville last Saturday, Kanoa Football Club-1 hammered Matansa, 12-0.

Siblings Markus and Merrick Toves powered Kanoa-1 to the lopsided victory after scoring three goals apiece. They got ample support from their teammates, as Jaydee Jose and Jim Kurt Maniago contributed two goals each, while Andrew Sablan and Brian Lubao added one.

Merrick made his hat-trick in the first half, while Sablan started things off for Kanoa-1 with his goal in the fourth minute to put the game away early. Jose recorded his brace for Kanoa-1’s 6-0 halftime advantage.

In the second game, TanHoldings also earned an easy win over Kanoa-2, 10-0.

Oliver Fajardo and Anthony John Bergancia teamed up in TanHoldings’ demolition of Kanoa-2 with the former firing four goals and the latter registering three. Kohtaro Goto chipped in two, while Eros Estolas had one.

Meanwhile, MP United joined TanHoldings and Kanoa-1 in the opening week’s winners list after also shutting down Shirley’s FC, 5-0.

Richard Steele paced MP United with his two goals, while Dylan Mister and Kristopher Pascual had one apiece. MP United got an own goal right in the third minute of the one-sided match.

BOYS U18
MP United 10, Kanoa 0
MP United triumphed, too in the opening game in the boys U18 division after crushing Kanoa last Friday.
CNMI national team member Sunjoon Tenorio made his presence felt early this season after tallying a hat trick. New recruit Kaden Church also had an impressive debut in MP United U18 uniform after posting two goals. Skyler Poon, Oliver Lee, Joshua Abragan, Jason Quimzon, and Jin Buen Eui had one goal each to complete MP United’s rout of the hapless Kanoa.

TanHoldings 5, CNMI U15 0
In the other match in the division, TanHoldings blanked the CNMI U15 Boys National Team.
Three different players hit the board for TanHoldings with Taka Borka drawing first blood after finding his target in the eighth minute. Mark Esalan scored TanHoldings’ other goal in the first half (24th minute) and got another one in the 49th, while the team’s two other goals in the second frame came from John Michael Rojas and Brandon Tenorio.