The miracle mission for Stallion Laguna now enters the proverbial final turn, and the Steeds overcame a slow start in this Saturday afternoon PFL match to defeat Maharlika Taguig 3-0 and stay in the title hunt.
The boys in white had the right mentality early, running at a Maharlika side that started their backup goalkeeper Jay Mendez; however, Mendez proved equal to the challenge. Assisted by seemingly misaligned shooting boots, the early flurry slowed down, and the game entered halftime knotted up in a scoreless state. Lucas del Rosario and Junior Mailly had multiple chances for the Black and Purple to punish Stallion’s sloppy finishing but could not get their sights past Freddy Cortez in goal.
The second half started almost the same, but the Steeds finally broke through. Gabriel Silva nodded in the 48th minute from a Juan Trujillo corner to break the deadlock, and from there the game swung decisively towards the Rosanero. Trujillo and Silva linked up again 8 minutes later, again from a corner, with the same result as a Silva header ballooned the Maharlika net, bouncing off Maharlika veteran David Basa in the process. From this point, the Steeds were energized and started running riot.
To Maharlika’s credit, they did not stop pushing for a goal of their own, with del Rosario and Mailly remaining potent threats, but they could not overcome Monte Silva marshalling his backline. The Steeds made Maharlika’s offensive overstretching pay in the 63rd minute, with Ezequiel Cirigliano whipping the ball across the pitch to Theo de Moraes, whose cutting run pulled his defender and Jay Mendez towards him.
The Brazilian firecracker pulled the ball back and across the box to set up Jacob Peña, who bundled the ball in for the decisive third goal of the match and secured the 3 points. Junior Sam and Finn McDaniel pushed later on to get their names on the scoresheet to no avail, but the Steeds built up even more momentum heading into their effective Cup Final next Sunday against Kaya FC with all the marbles on the line.
Psychology graduate that’s been down the football rabbit hole since a kiddie camp in 1996. Once made a tryout for Manila Jeepney and a weekend consists of hand-wringing about Manchester United and Stallion Laguna. Can be found spouting opinions on X @FullyVaxxedJ
