MP United, Shirley’s bag division titles

MP United Football Club and Shirley’s FC secured the championship in their respective divisions in the 2015 NMIFA Youth Spring League.

Grafton Howard, seen here dribbling during a friendly game last month in Garapan, plays for MP United Football Club, which ruled the co-ed U12 division of the NMIFA youth league.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

MP United capped the round-robin contest in the co-ed U12 division with a field best 7-1-0 win-draw loss record to finish way ahead of Kanoa FC (2-4-2), Tan Holdings (3-1-4), and Paire (3-1-4), which gained 10 points each in eight games. MP United collected 22 points, getting three more after routing Matansa (1-1-6), 4-0, last Saturday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field.

Dylan Cho starred in MP United’s last game, making a hat-trick, while Brian Kim logged the other goal for the division champion.

In the other U12 pairing last Saturday, Paire downed Kanoa, 5-3.

Kaden Church delivered the goods for Paire, scoring all of the team’s five goals to outduel Kanoa’s Ian Karl Maniago, who knocked in three goals.

Meanwhile, Shirley’s FC clinched the girls U15 tiara, thanks to Tan Holdings, which forced a draw against erstwhile leader Matansa.

Going into last Saturday’s final game, Matansa and Shirley’s had similar 7-2-0 records with the former winning the tiebreak with its more goals, 29-26.

Matansa then dueled Tan Holdings last weekend and settled for a deadlock, 2-2. Chloe Salvosa hit the equalizer for Tan Holdings in the 39th minute and she also registered the team’s first goal in the 17th.

Angelica Sally duplicated Salvosa’s feat, drilling the pair of goals in the 19th and 27th minute, however she failed to keep Matansa on top of the six-team field, as the 2014 spring and fall season champion dropped to a 7-3-0 slate.

Shirley’s ended Matansa’s reign in the girls U15 division after blanking Kanoa, 3-0, in the third and last game this season. Mia Carreon, Katrina Costales, and Diana Maniacop posted one goal apiece for Shirley’s, which finished the competition with an 8-2-0 record and 26 points, just two more than Matansa’s total.

In the other girls U15 match last weekend, Paire capped the season with an impressive 6-0 win over MP United. Renita Fleming had a hat-trick for Paire, which finished third in the field with its 5-0-5 record, ahead of Tan Holdings (3-2-5), MP United (2-0-8), and Kanoa (1-1-8). Guinevere Borja added two more goals, while Paire was handed an own goal early in the game.

In the boys U18 division, the winner has yet to be decided with only one game played last weekend and three more are left in the three round-robin contest.

Matansa FC dominated Paire, 7-0, in the lone division match last Saturday at Hopwood. Matansa remained at the No. 3 spot behind Tan Holdings (7-1-0) and MP United (5-1-1) and ahead of Paire (0-0-7).

Joshua De Leon and Ryu Tanzawa tallied two goals each for Paire, which drew one goal apiece from Kenneth Mafnas, Evan Belcher, and Chad Shankweiler.