MP United, Thundercats prevail; Shirley’s FC win

Kanoa FC’s Jeralyn Castillo is double-teamed by Shirley’s FC defenders during the first half of their game in the NMIFA women’s league last Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.
(ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Seung Joon Lee drilled the lone goal in the Kanoa-MP United duel in the first game of the weekend to lift the latter to the close win. Lee nailed the winning goal in the second half to help MP United bounce back from a 0-5 loss to KFAS on May 11.

The Thundercats drew a bye in the May 11 set of matches and returned to play last Sunday with a convincing 3-1 victory over the CNMI Women’s National Team.

Three different players contributed to the Thundercats’ cause with Norman Camacho putting his team on the board early with a goal in the sixth minute. Timothy Tawanpiy then gave the Thundercats their second goal fourteen minutes later, while the CNMI Women’s National Team got an own goal late in the first half to move within one at the break, 1-2.

The score remain unchanged in the first half of the final frame before Don Cabrera ended the Thundercats’ silence with the insurance goal in the 79th minute.

For the last game of the weekend, Byung Kwan Ohng canned the equalizer for KFAS late in the second half to force a deadlock against Tan Holdings FC.

Tan Holdings scored first off Yoshi Mafnas’ goal right in the second minute of the match. Scott Kim then tied the match at halftime with his goal two minutes before the first half ended. A goal from Sang Ho Choi in the 60th put KFAS on top, but Tan Holdings answered back quickly with a shot from Sean Perez just one minute later for the second standoff.

A Bradley Brostrom conversion in the 69th minute broke the deadlock and helped Tan Holdings regain the lead before Ohng came to KFAS’ rescue and hit the game-tying goal in the 70th.

Meanwhile, the NMIFA Women’s Spring League also took place last weekend at the Oleai pitch with Shirley’s FC downing Kanoa FC. 2-1.
Angelica Carreon and Alexa Vergara scored for Shirley’s FC, while Lalaine Pagarao nailed the lone goal for Kanoa. Carreon drew first blood for Shirley’s, finding the back of the net in the 13th minute, while Vergara made it a 2-0 advantage for her team 15 minutes later. Pagarao, who played goalie for Shirley’s in the first half, moved back to the forward position and helped her team avoid a shutout.

Two more games in the women’s league were scheduled last Saturday with the third one (Tan Holdings against MP United) reset and the second resulted in a forfeiture in favor of Independent FC (versus Matansa).