Teen Ayuyus, TanHoldings win debuts

Paire Football Club’s Gerard Van Gils, second left, battles Kanoa Football Club players in a footrace during their debut game in Division A of the M-League at the Hopwood Middle School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

TanHoldings Football Club and the Teen Ayuyus prevailed in their respective opening games, while Okadaya and MP United FC notched their first win in the fall season of the M-League.

The Teen Ayuyus, who are made up of the CNMI Boys U18 and U15 players, debuted against Sun Palace last Sunday at the Hopwood Middle School Field and cruised to a 4-0 victory in their Division A match. Joshua Abragan scored two goals for the Teen Ayuyus, while Anthony Fruit and John Michael Rojas added one apiece. Abragan hit the board on successive fashion, making his first in the 36th minute and the second two minutes later. Fruit had his goal in the 52nd minute, while Rojas closed out for the Teen Ayuyus in the 56th.

TanHoldings duplicated the Teen Ayuyus’ easy win in Division A after downing newcomer Okadaya, 4-1. Three different players contributed to TanHoldings’ cause with Martin Jambor starting things out for the squad with his goal in the 10th minute. The next goal came eight minutes later, courtesy of Joshua Galarion, while the third one was recorded by Sean Perez in the 47th, and the last (own goal) was posted in the 79th minute.

Okadaya got its lone goal from Fradel Sedillo, who broke the ice early when he found the back of the net in the fourth minute.

Before bowing to TanHoldings, Okadaya won its debut in the league after topping MP United last Oct. 8, 3-0. Okadaya was ahead at the break, 1-0, off Hojin Woo’s goal in the 31st minute, but ended up taking the 3-0 win via forfeiture as MP United did not have enough players for the final half of the match.

MP United quickly bounced back from its opening loss after downing Paire, 1-0, in last Sunday’s curtain-raiser. Former youth player Tanapon Unsa returned to the island and made his presence felt in the league after canning the only goal in the match in the 62nd minute.

The game against MP United was Paire’s second, as its first match versus Kanoa FC last Oct. 8 resulted in a draw, 1-1. Ajani Burrell scored for Paire in the ninth minute, while Davy Laxa nailed the equalizer for Kanoa.

Meanwhile, in the opening game in Division B last Sunday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field, Matansa edged Shirley’s, 4-2.

Kamrul Kamrul knocked in a pair of goals for Matansa with his first in the 37th minute breaking the deadlock and his second in the 61st giving his squad the insurance. Amzad Khan and Michiteru Mita tallied the two other goals for Matansa, scoring in the seventh and 30th minute, respectively.

As for Shirley’s side, Jack Phan handed the team its first goal in the 25th minute, while Jedidah Peteru drilled the other one six minutes later.

After its debut win, Matansa will go for back-to-back this Sunday when it takes on the CNMI Women’s Team at 4pm at the Koblerville pitch. Over at Hopwood for the Division A matches, MP United will duel Kanoa at 12pm, Paire will challenge TanHoldings at 2pm, and Okadaya will square off against the Teen Ayuyus at 4pm.