SHS-J boys win RIFA Cup; SHS-Hijas end with bronze

The Sacred Heart School Jesuit Boys 97 and the Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus both prevailed over separate rivals in a penalty shootout to capture the championship and third place, respectively, in their categories.

The SHS-J Boys 97 defeated Colegio de San Agustin (CSA) 3-1 to bag the Rizal Football Association RIFA Cup 2008 at the CSA football field in Makati City over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the SHS-Hijas de Jesus beat Guiseppe 2-0 in another shootout to finish third in the girls 14-under category at the same tournament.

The boys’ game ended in a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation period, and SHS-J needed to rely on their penalty kicks for the second straight year to defend their crown.

CSA scored first in the first half of regulation, but the Eagles retaliated through JM Acebedo-Kwan’s penalty kick after a CSA defender fouled Kiko Villamor in the penalty area late in the game.

Acebedo-Kwan’s goal not only found the back of the net, but also more importantly lifted the spirits of the Eagles, enabling them to gain back the momentum they had lost after finding themselves down 0-1, going into the end game.

Acebedo-Kwan, Jerby Bernaldez and tournament MVP Villamor made sure that there wouldn’t be any doubt to the outcome as they nailed their respective kicks from the spot.

Bernaldez duplicated his role of last year as he blocked two CSA penalty kicks after scoring his own goal, just as he did in 2007 when SHSJ defeated Southridge also via penalty shoot-out.

The SHS-J Boys 97 team finished the tournament undefeated, sweeping the opposition in the elimination round  where  they crushed HEDCEN 4-0, Ateneo de Manila 1-0, Southridge 4-1 and CSA 3-0. They then defeated Xavier, 3-0, in the semifinals before facing CSA again in the finals.

The third place match between SHS-Hijas de Jesus ended in a scoreless draw forcing a penalty shootout.

SHS-HJ skipper Erin Yap scored the first goal for SHS-HJ followed by another goal by Chesca Uy. Goalkeeper Katrina San Ramon foiled an attempt by Guiseppe as three other kickers missed.  The young women booters started the tournament hot with a 2-0 win over San Beda College. Three straight scoreless draws Colegio De San Agustin, Miriam College and Guiseppe stalled the team and lost their last game 0-1 to Xavier School.

Despite their 1-3-1 win, draw, loss card, the lady booters made it to the semifinals where they eventually lost a tough 0-2 decision to Miriam College.