NU nabs first win at Adamson's expense

Elmer Sampaga scored on one and assisted on the other as NU got their first three points.

By Earl Averilla


MANILA -- NU took full effort enough to see out Adamson for their first win of the UAAP season early Sunday evening at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. 

Skipper Patrick Valenzuela and Elmer Sampaga joined hands for the Bulldogs of Mari Aberasturi to get their first three points in the fifth time of asking, but not after a huge scare by the Falcons who initiated a second-half uprising but the Sampaloc booters kept their nerve to preserve a 2-1 win and to leap them past the San Marcelino side to sixth in the table in the process.

Valenzuela nabbed NU's first in the seventh minute after converting Sampaga's right wing cross from close range that shocked the Adamson defense, and the latter turned goalscorer when he tucked in a long range bomb five minutes before half-time.

Although Paul Melliza pulled one back with an early second-half penalty, the Bulldogs kept the Falcons in check the rest of the way.

After the game, NU Coach Mari Aberasturi shared that he is not satisfied with the performance of his boys in spite of the win, as they still have a lot to improve especially in converting goal-scoring chances. Noting also as one of their weaknesses is their tendency to relax after the halftime break, a behavior that lead to a penalty for Adamson. With the weaknesses pointed out, it is to see if they could improve themselves in time before their next match against La Salleon Thursday. 

(Kevin Estrada contributed to this report)

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