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M-League opens spring season
NMI U16’s Thaiphi Austria, left, nudges Kanoa’s Rodwealth Espana during the first half of their Division 1 game in the M-League yesterday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
M-League kicked off its spring season over the weekend with seven games scheduled at the Hopwood Junior High School Field.
The Women’s National Team and Kanoa played in the opening match last Friday and results of their Division 2 duel along with the three other games in their group were unavailable at press time. Eight teams are entered in Division 2 with Shirley’s 1 and 2, Sun Palace, Matansa, Independents FC-Thundercats, and Korean Football Association on Saipan completing the field.
Shirley’s 1 was set to challenge KFAS in the 1:30pm match yesterday, while Sun Palace and IFC-Thundercats were scheduled to slug it out in the second game at 2:45pm. In the third and final match last Sunday, Shirley’s 2 was slated to face Matansa at 4pm.
Division 1 had the same schedule yesterday and matches were played on the other field. In the first game, it was MP United against Sun Palace, while Kanoa was pitted against NMI U16 in the second tiff. In the third game Paire Football Club-Hawaiian Rock was to square off against TanHoldings.
Division 1 has only six teams and the participating squads will play for 10 weeks.
For Week 2, the pairings are Sun Palace vs Kanoa; Paire-HR vs MP United; and TanHoldings vs NMI U16, while on April 16 there will be no games in observance of Easter Sunday. The last batch of matches in Division 1 is set for June 18.
In Division 2, teams will play for 14 weeks, with the season concluding on July 16. The second week of matches (April 8 and 9) will have the Women’s National Team battling Shirley’s 2 this Friday, while Sunday’s pairings include Sun Palace vs Kanoa; Matansa vs Shirley’s 1, and KFAS vs IFC-Thundercats.
Both Division 2 and 1 opted to have an 8 vs 8 game due to the size of the Hopwood pitches. M-League matches used to be 11 a side when teams played at the Oleai Sports Complex Field. The Oleai pitch is still undergoing repairs, which is tentatively scheduled to be complete mid May. M-League also started the spring season late due to the unavailability of the Oleai pitch.
