Kanoa gets solo lead in U12 league

Kanoa Football Club’s Merrick Toves, center, scored two goals in their 10-2 rout of MPU 2 FC in the co-ed U12 competitive division game in the NMIFA youth league last Saturday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Kana Football Club extended its win streak to three following a 10-2 demolition of MP United 2 in one of the two games played in the co-ed U12 competitive division of the 2016 NMIFA Youth Fall League last Saturday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field.

Kanoa’s 3-0-0 win-draw-loss record also gave the team the solo lead in the five-squad division, while MP United is at the bottom of the standings with its 0-0-2 slate.

Paulyn Joyce anchored Kanoa’s easy victory, as she outgunned the entire MP United 2 crew after making a hat-trick. Joyce scored right in the very first minute of the one-sided match and also knocked in the game’s last goal in the 59th minute. Her second goal came in the 42nd minute.

Other scorers for Kanoa were John Mark Anastacio, Daniel Mark Pablo, Andrew Sablan, and siblings Merrick and Markus Toves. Pablo nailed back-to-back goals with his first recorded in the third minute and the second in the 12th. Anastacio lit up the board anew for Kanoa two minutes later for the team’s 4-0 advantage.

After giving up four straight goals to Kanoa, MP United 2 finally managed to counter, thanks to James Kil’s conversion in the 15th minute. However, Kanoa got the one goal back when Sablan found his target just a minute left in the first half to lift the division leader to a 5-1 advantage at the break.

Kanoa went on to stretch its lead in the second half with Merrick logging his first goal in the 41 st, Joyce earning her second a minute later, and the former’s younger brother Markus scoring in the 48th. Markus goal came two minutes before MP United registered only its second goal—courtesy of Roy Allen Matagolai. Merrick then added one more goal for Kanoa in the 54th minute before Joyce closed out for the team to complete the rout one minute before the match wrapped up.

MP United 1 11, TanHoldings 4
In the other game in the division, MP United recovered quickly from its season-debut loss after whipping TanHoldings.

Rintaro Miyawaki, who failed to score in MP United 1’s 0-4 loss to Kanoa in Week 1, redeemed himself in Week 3, firing four goals in their first win this season. Andrew Chung and Rohan Basnet also made multiple goals for MP United 1 as they each had a hat trick, while Jerick Ven Quimzon contributed one.

As for TanHoldings, which dropped to a 0-1-2 record, Kohtaro Goto tallied three goals, while Oliver Fajardo chipped in one.

Miyawaki started things off for MP United with his goal in the third minute, while Basnet got two straight, posting his first in the seventh and the second in the 18th minute. Fajardo’s goal was also registered under the 18-minute mark and TanHoldings remained in the game, as Goto knocked in his first earlier in the 10th.

A Miyawaki goal in the 24 th minute gave MP United 1 more cushion and Chung made it a 5-2 advantage at the break when he scored in the last minute of the first half.

Miyawaki, Quimzom, Chung, and Basnet then hit the board for MP United 1 in the first 20 minutes of play to help their team pull away. Goto ended TanHoldings’ silence in the second half with his second goal in the 54th minute, but that was not enough to spark the team’s big comeback, as MP United got two more goals (Chung and Miyawaki’s shots in the 56th and 57th minute) against Goto’s third (60th).

Meanwhile, MP United 1 will go for its second straight victory when it takes on sister team MP United 2 this Saturday at 12:30pm at Hopwood’s Pitch A. Over at Pitch B, Kanoa will try to keep its clean slate against Paire (1-1-0).