Teves' penalty sends DLSU to UAAP women's football final against FEU

The DLSU Lady Booters booked its Finals ticket with a 1-0 victory over the UP Fighting Maroons thanks to Angelica Teves' 25th-minute penalty at the UP Diliman Football Field this Saturday, and will be facing the FEU Lady Tamaraw Booters in the Final of the UAAP Season 85 Women's Football tournament.

PHOTO CREDITS: UAAP

The matchup pits DLSU, the league's best offense with 19 goals scored, against the league's best defense in UP with only 4 goals conceded in the preliminaries.

It was the green shirts who dominated proceedings early on, with the strike partnership of Maria Layacan and Shai Del Campo disrupting UP's building, reducing them to feeding off counter-attacks.

DLSU took the lead from the penalty spot after 25 minutes. UP's Yoojin Kim was called for a foul inside the box on La Salle's Samantha Toledo, and league-leading scorer Angelica Teves hit the ball low past UP keeper Coline Acelo.

The scoreline remained 1-0 to the Green Booters at halftime, and they continued to assert themselves, with Layacan slipping past the UP defense, going just wide in the 49th minute. Defensive lapses from the Fighting Maroons helped DLSU, with substitute Mikaela Villacin playing a pass to a wide-open Layacan after 64 minutes, but couldn't convert. Layacan again came close, pouncing on an errant pass from the UP defense.

But the Fighting Maroons had chances of their own to try and regain control. Alyssa Ube and Bethany Talbot created multiple chances from out wide in the last 20 minutes of the match, but the UP forwards were caught offside on multiple occasions by a tight DLSU defense.

The result sealed DLSU's spot in the Final, with the FEU Lady Tamaraw Booters awaiting them in the final. The ultimate decider will be played on May 21st, 5 pm at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.