La Salle, FEU split points as they battle to draw

Freshman Paeng Siggaoat saved La Salle's clean second round record with a crucial equalizer.

By Earl Averilla

MANILA -- It was a tale of two halves for FEU and La Salle as they battled in to a 1-1 stalemate in Saturday's UAAP action at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Both sides started out evenly matched and tightly contested with chances few and far between. Chances were very much at a premium with on-target shots tame enough for the keepers to deal with.

La Salle came close in the 26th minute as Koizumi’s shot was nicked just in time by an FEU defender to thwart the chance.

FEU answered with an effort in the 29th minute as a well headed goal-bound shot from a corner was blocked by a DLSU defender.

A breakthrough went in favor of the Tamaraws as Alex Rayos notched a goal in the 34th minute off a lucky rebound from the crossbar from a previous attempt by a teammate.

La Salle wasted their chance to equalize though soon after with a shot by Nace Gonzales coming from a nice gifted assist by Koizumi comfortably saved by Ray Joyel as the first half eventually expired with FEU having the upper-hand.

The second half began with the Green Archers attacking with more intent.

Their efforts were rewarded shortly as freshman Paeng Siggaoat headed home from a Noel Brago cross to restore parity.

What followed was a more open play with both sides coming up with chances however great goal keeping and hurried attempts made it difficult for the ball to cross the line for either of the teams as the game ended with a draw.

The result could be regrettable to either side as it won’t do anything good to both their respective campaigns in the second round.

However, this affects La Salle's playoff bid more as the team missed out on a chance to go to solo fourth in the league table with four matches left in its schedule.

Follow him on Twitter: @earlaverilla