La Salle, FEU forge football championship duel

LA SALLE-FLYING V and Far Eastern U hammered out narrow wins over the weekend and forged a title showdown in the 2012 IPPCA Football Pre-Season Cup at Nuvali Field in Sta. Rosa City.

The Green Archers kept their stirring run by nipping University of Santo Tomas-Metroil, 1-0, before the Tamaraws nosed out Emilio Aguinaldo College, 4-3, on penalties after regulation play and extra time ended scoreless.

On the brink of elimination last week, the Archers continued their rise with Gio Diamante scoring the only goal of the match in the 77th minute.

La Salle then thwarted wave after wave of attack from UST to keep its title hopes alive.

Eric Giganto fired home the decisive goal from 12 yards for the Tamaraws before goalkeeper Patrick Rallos saved the next EAC penalty to clinch the win.

Grabbing the limelight Sunday were Dexter Jae Chio of FEU as Flying V Best Defender; Jesus Melliza, also of FEU as Seaoil Best Striker, Bob Suclatan of EAC as Unioil Best Midfielder, Florencio Balderic of EAC as Metroil Best Goalkeeper and DLSU as Eastern Petroleum Fair Play Team.

The tournament is bankrolled by IPPCA members Chemrez Technologies Inc., Eastern Petroleum Corp., Filpride/USA88, Seaoil Philippines Inc., Flying V, Oilink, Unioil, International Engineer Phils., Inc., Filoil Energy Company, City Oil, Metro Oil Subic, LPGMA, Omni Petroleum Corp, Trans Overseas Industrial Corp. and CIIS. Cedelf P. Tupas