TanHoldings, MPU draw first blood

TanHoldings’ Aloyzeus Angeles, right, dribbles past two Shirley’s defenders during the first half of their boys U14 division game in the NMIFA youth spring league last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Close games marked the opening week of the boys U14 division competition in the 2017 NMIFA Youth Spring League with two teams winning by only one point and two more settling for a draw last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field.

Defending Spring champion TanHoldings opened its bid for a third straight division crown with a 1-0 victory over Shirley’s FC in the last game in Week 1. Ezekiel Canape scored the lone goal in the match in the 58th minute. Canape is one of the few holdovers from the team that swept the Spring and Fall seasons of last year’s youth league. With more newcomers suiting up for TanHoldings, players are still working on their chemistry thus the low output on offense in their season debut.

Shirley’s, on the other hand, had a lot of returning players from last year’s squad and made several attempts to score, but just could not find its target.

Meanwhile, in the second game in the division, MP United eked out a 2-1 win over Matansa FC.

The winning squad had several players recruited from the club’s U12 crew that finished runner-up in the fall season of 2016 and a couple of holdovers from last year’s U14 team. Rintaro Miyawaki was among the returnees on the team and he put MP United on the board with his equalizer in the 29th minute.

Earlier in the 12th minute, Razeff Altamirano, who is also among the veterans on Matansa’s U14 squad, gave his squad the early lead. The match ended in a tie at halftime before a goal from Richard Steele in the 52nd minute broke the deadlock. Steele is one of the many players promoted from MP United’s U12 team to its U14 crew.

In other results, 2016 fall champion Kanoa settled for a 2-2 draw against Paire in the first game of the division.

Kaden Church scored the pair of goals for Paire with his game-tying one coming in three minutes after Ian Karl Maniago handed Kanoa the 2-1 advantage. Merrick Toves hit the first goal for Kanoa in the seventh minute, while Maniago recorded the second in the 48th minute. Church’s other goal was registered in the 32nd minute.

With their first game resulting in a draw, both Paire and Kanoa will try to enter the win column this Saturday when they take on separate opponents. Kanoa will face TanHoldings in the second game at 3pm, while Paire will play in the last tiff in Week 2 against Matansa at 4:30pm. In the curtain-raiser at 1:30pm, MP United will go for win No. 2 against Shirley’s.

Three matches will also take place at the Francisco M. Sablan Middle School in the opening week of the girls U15 division. In the first game, Paire will duel Kanoa, while TanHoldings will collide against MP United in the second match. Defending Spring champion Shirley’s will see action against Matansa in the last game.