Beard scores but Filipinas fall to South Korea 2-1

MANILA, Philippines – Angie Beard’s maiden goal as a Filipina was the bright spot for the Philippine women’s national football team, which suffered a narrow 1-2 loss to South Korea in their international friendly at Icheon Sports Complex on Monday night.

Though still a loss, the Filipinas scored their first goal of the year courtesy of Beard’s conversion on the set piece at the 74th minute, marking her debut goal with the team after 11 caps wearing the Philippines jersey.

It also marked some improvement after the Filipinas’ earlier loss 0-3 to the Koreans as well.

But the Filipinas weren’t able to bring the same defensive intensity at the start of the match as they did previously, as Korea scored in the opening minute courtesy of a finish by Choo Hyojoo.

Choe Yuri, who also got past Olivia McDaniel in the first friendly, found the back of the net again past the half hour mark to double Korea’s lead, 2-0, at the 33rd minute.

Still, the hosts were only able to penetrate the Filipinas’ wall, led by skipper Hali Long, twice as they were denied the rest of the way to keep the scoreline decent.

Then, Beard’s breakthrough in the 74th minute helped the Filipinas pull one back and finish the match at 2-1.

The Filipinas also saw a new player, Alessandrea Carpio, make her debut for the national team. In the other match, three others also got their first caps: Rhea Chan, Nina Mathelus and Aiselyn Sia.