Paire outplays Paire in Dove finals

Paire 1 edged out its sister team Paire 2 in their finals match of the Masters Division during the 2021 Dove Spring season last May 30 at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville. (Contributed Photo)

Paire 1 edged out sister team Paire 2 in their finals match of the Masters Division during the 2021 Dove Spring season last May 30 at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.

Only one could win and Paire 1 made sure it was them after taking a 1-0 victory over their beloved sister team, Paire 2, during the intense season finale.

Lindsay Davis led the way for Paire 1 after landing the only goal of the game in the 5th minute of the match.

Although Paire 2 tried tirelessly to turn the tables, Paire 1 remained strong and focused heavily on their defense.

According to team captain Natalie Hill-Beyer, it was the 1-point-advantage that really boosted their confidence and contributed to their play.

“Our power forward Lindsay scored the goal early on in the game so it’s kind of set the tone for us so we knew we had a little bit of an advantage so we were still playing hard but we had that little boost of being in the lead. [However] we were losing our energy at the end so I knew anything could happen in the last few minutes,” she said.

When asked about their strategy, Hill-Beyer said it was all in the lineup and making sure that there was a balance between experienced and less experienced.

“We mixed our lineup with experienced players and those who don’t have as much experience so we have a balance every time we go on. Everyone also just tried their best and we coach as much as we can,” she said.

Hill-Beyer said overall, it was just a fun game between sister teams.

“We feel excited and elated. We were super happy to go into this finals with both Paire teams matching up against each other and we knew it was going to be a fun game playing against our friends and our sister team,” she said.

Landing third place in the Masters Division was Matansa after taking a 3-2 (PK) victory over TanHoldings Football Club.

Bunruang Brasuell, Tawny Barcinas, and Alleny Tenorio each hit their target during the penalty shootout to clinch the title for Matansa.

However, it was a close PK match with Mariquit Chavez and Roxe Lazaro each landing their goals.

The game came to a tie after Matansa’s Barcinas squeezed in a goal before the end of the game, landing one in the 51st minute.

Initially, TanHoldings held the lead after Yoko Borja scored a goal in the 34th minute.