Ceres foils Voltes as Schrock shines

CERES midfielder Stephan Schrock goes for a shot against JP Voltes defender Masaki Yanagawa in Saturday night’s key UFL match at Rizal Memorial Stadium. Ceres prevailed to vault into the lead. UFL PHOTO

INSPIRED by Stephan Schrock, 10-man Ceres La Salle fought back from a goal down at halftime to topple JP Voltes, 4-2, Saturday night and seize top spot in the United Football League at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

With Schrock pulling the strings, the defending champions rose to the challenge, scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to pick up their fifth straight victory and jack up their tally to 15 points.

The Loyola Meralco Sparks also vaulted to second place with a 4-0 crushing of Forza in the other match.

Phil and James Younghusband knocked in two goals each as the Sparks scored their third straight victory to tie Ceres and Global at 15 points.

Ceres seized top spot ahead of Loyola and Global on goal difference. Global, however, has a game in hand.

“It’s only six games but we felt our season was on the line in this match,” said Ceres coach Ali Go. “I stressed this point to the team at halftime and I’m glad they responded.”

Ceres rediscovered its devastating form in four blistering minutes in the second half to restore order to its campaign.

Adrian Gallardo turned from hero to villain in the first half, scoring in the sixth minute, before getting sent off for a petulant challenge on Voltes defender PJ Fadrigalan.

Former Ceres player William Espinosa cancelled out Gallardo’s opener with a well-placed strike, before Voltes capitalized on its man advantage at the stroke of halftime.

Japanese striker Takumi Uesato swapped passes with J Baguioro before cooly slotting the ball past Mike Casas.

Down one goal, with a man disadvantage, Ceres refused to sulk with Schrock sparking the comeback, equalizing just five minutes after the restart when his cross was deflected into the goal by Masaki Yanagawa. Ceres went ahead three minutes later when Orman Okuinaya headed home from close range off a cross from Patrick Reichelt.

Schrock turned provider a minute later for Ceres’ fourth goal, finding Reichelt, whose header beat Nelson Gasic again for Ceres’ third goal in just four minutes.

Casas conceded a penalty midway in the second half, but atoned for his mistake by stopping Uesato’s penalty.

After conceding 10 goals against Ceres, Forza held the Sparks scoreless in the first half. But a curling free kick from Phil Younghusband in the 56th minute shattered the deadlock, before a precise finish from James Younghusband doubled the advantage in the 67th minute.

The Loyola skipper James made it 3-nil three minutes later with a close-range strike before Phil grabbed his second and fifth goals of the tournament in the last two minutes with a controlled strike from inside the six-yard box.