MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine women's national football team will move on to the second round of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament after completing a sweep of Group E with a 4-0 win over Hong Kong at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan on Tuesday.
Sarina Bolden scored a brace to help steer the Filipinas to the win, while Olivia McDaniel bagged a clean sheet in her first appearance in the tournament to help the Filipinas finish with zero goals allowed in three matches.
Bolden started the scoring early when the forward sped past her defender in the fifth minute.
She went one-on-one with Hong Kong keeper Ng Cheuk Wai and easily slipped it past the latter to give the Filipinas the early advantage.
Despite Bolden's conversion early, the Filipinas struggled to finish in the first 40 minutes of the match.
Superior passing and control of possession gave the Philippines chances often against Hong Kong, a lot of which gave them good looks on goal.
But the Filipinas squandered most of their opportunities to pad their lead.
At the half-hour mark, Katrina Guillou was able to create a golden chance to make it 2-0 for the Filipinas when she dispossessed a Hong Kong defender and made a run on goal.
With only the keeper to beat, Guillou miscalculated her shot as it hit the wood work and kept the score at 1-0.
Jaclyn Sawicki's try from a ways away from the goal was also blocked by Wai when she fired an absolute rocket off of a short free kick at the 34th minute.
Bolden herself supplied the match's second goal when she finished up and over the keeper at the 41-minute mark to make it 2-nil for the Filipinas.
Meryll Serrano then converted from a set piece just outside the box three minutes after to give the Philippines a 3-goal advantage at the break.
Quinley Quezada, the Filipinas' leading scorer, kept her scoring record ahead of Bolden with the game's only goal in the second half when she slotted it past the keeper at the 53rd minute.
Quezada scored her 22nd goal for the national team and kept a two-goal lead over her teammate who reached 20 goals for the Filipinas with her brace.
The Filipinas finish the first round of Olympic qualifiers with 16 goals scored and none allowed.
Up next for them will be the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia next month where they look to improve on their bronze medal finish last year.