Lady booters take centerstage

CEBU, Philippines - For the first time, lady booters will take centerstage as major awardees for football in the 33rd Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Beer (SAC-SMB) All-Cebu Sports Awards on March 31 at the Ayala Activity Center.

Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu's (SHS-AdC) Itsuko Bacatan and Arantxa Mari Trebol; St. Theresa's College's Jan Reese Jumawan and SAIS' Alexandrea Gumilao will be commended for their contribution to the Philippine Girls Under-14 squad that made history after finishing as runner-up in the Asian Football Confederation Under-14 Championship for Southeast Asia held last June in Vietnam.

The team placed second to Thailand, with defending champion Vietnam settling for third and Myanmar fourth.

In recent years, Philippine football has continued to make historical strides internationally and the Phl U14 girls achievement last year was no exception as it was the country's best finish ever for a girls or ladies team

The girls were scouted during the Philippine Football Federation Festival of Football for the Visayas, which serves as an annual talent identification program. They made the final cut during a more extensive training camp in Metro Manila.

Trebol, who regularly made it to the national junior team the past few years, scored Phl's lone goal during the championship game against Thailand wherein the team lost 1-2.

Trebol, Bacatan and Jumawan were also named to the Phl Under-16 squad that saw action in the AFC women's championship qualifying round last October in Malaysia.

The three were joined by STC goalkeeper Alexa Ceniza, who will be getting a citation for her inclusion to the Phl U16 team.

The other footballers who will be cited are Central Visayas elementary football team that clinched the elementary football title of last year's Palarong Pambansa held in Laguna and the Don Bosco futsal team that won gold in the Batang Pinoy National Finals.

Also to be recognized are Don Bosco Technology Center's (DBTC) Joaquin Buyco and Charles Unabia, who were named Most Outstanding Athletes for elementary football in the Milo Little Olympics National Finals held in Marikina City.

Cebuano footballers also made their presence felt in the Clear Dream Match national tryouts wherein Lorenzo “Enzo” Ceniza of Paref Springdale bagged the Tom Cleverly Award and was named best midfielder, while Yves Caballero of the University of San Carlos was named ahe best striker.

Also to be commended are DBTC's Kyle Adrian Ronquillo and Roygbiv Barro; Don Bosco Boys Home Liloan's Jessie Reil Semblante; University of Southern Philippines Foundation's Marcel Ivan Ouano, and SHS-AdC's Leo Gabriel Maquiling for making it to the Phl U14 boys that played in the Japan–ASEAN U14 Football Exchange Programme in Osaka last April.  (FREEMAN)