Paire snaps skid, tops Kanoa

Paire Football Club’s George Shokarev, left, goes for a header against Kanoa Football Club’s Sebastien Manabat during the first half of their boys U17 game in the NMIFA youth league last Saturday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Paire Football Club ended its two-game losing skid after defeating Kanoa FC, 2-0, in the second game in the boys U17 division of the 2016 NMIFA Youth Fall League last Saturday at the Hopwood Junior High School Field.

Paire’s first goal was courtesy of an error by Kanoa’s Kirt Andon in the 56th minute. The second one came from a shot by Jefferzon Sagum three minutes later.

With the victory, Paire moved up a bit in the team standings, occupying the fourth spot in the five-team field with its 1-0-2 win-draw-loss record. Kanoa is still at the bottom of the standings with its 0-0-3 card. Matansa leads the division with its 2-2-0 mark after a scoreless draw against TanHoldings in the curtain-raiser. TanHoldings fell to second spot after holding a 2-1-0 mark, while MP United, which drew a bye in Week 4 of the division, is in third place with its 1-1-1 slate.

MP United will try to go for win No. 2 this Saturday when it takes on Kanoa in the first match at 9am, while TanHoldings will aim to catch up with Matansa when it collides against Paire in the second tiff this weekend at 10:40am. Teams playing this Saturday will return to the Oleai Sports Complex Field, which was used for a local event last Saturday, forcing NMIFA to move the Paire-Kanoa and Matansa-TanHoldings games at the Hopwood pitch.

CO-ED U12
Kanoa 3, Paire 2
Kanoa this time was on the winning end of one of the two co-ed U12 competitive matches that were also played at the Hopwood pitch last Saturday.

Merrick Toves starred in Kanoa’s close win over Paire as he knocked in all of the former’s three goals, outgunning Paire’s Dylan Mister, who made the pair for the losing squad.

Toves’ string of three goals came after Kanoa was silent in the entire first half. Mister also drilled his two goals in the final 30 minutes of play.

With its victory, Kanoa kept the top spot in the division as it improved to a 4-0-0 record. Paire is still at the No. 3 spot with its 1-1-1 mark.

MP United 1 14, MP United 2 2
MP United 1 won convincingly the battle between sister teams.

Three straight goals from Rohan Basket set the pace for MP United 1, which managed to take a 7-1 advantage by halftime. Basnet scored in the second, fifth, and sixth minute, while Jeremia Diaz contributed a pair in the first half with his shots in the 17th and 18th minute. Andrew Chong and Rintaro Miyawaki tallied the two other goals for MP United 1 after lighting up the board in the 14th and 29th minute, respectively, while Leo Takahashi posted the lone goal for MP United 2 five minutes before the 30-minute first half wrapped up.

Diaz went on to duplicate Basnet’s hat trick as the former scored anew in the 43rd minute, while Miyawaki was the third MP United 1 player to gain three goals after firing the team’s last two (5th and 60th minute)

Richard Steele equaled Miyawaki’s brace in the second half after getting his first in the 38th minute and the second in the 53rd. Chong (35th minute) and Fiona Marielle Bucalig (47th minute) were the two other scorers for MP United 1 in the second half, while MP United 2’s second goal in the match came from Dabe Hodges in the 50th minute.

MP United 1 earned its second straight win after losing its opener against Kanoa, while MP United 2 is winless in three matches. MP United 2 hopes to move out of slump when it duels TanHoldings (0-1-2) this Saturday, while the other division game this weekend will have MP United 1 battling Paire.