MANILA – Kaya Futbol Club-Iloilo made a return trip to the finals of the Philippines Football League – Copa Paulino Alcantara with a 3-0 win over Mendiola FC 1991 at the Aboitiz Pitch in Lipa, Batangas.
Kenshiro Daniels, Masanari Omura and Darryl Roberts converted a goal each in the second half on Sunday night as the Ilonggo football club kept its Copa Paulino Alcantara title-retention bid alive.
Both teams had a hard time with their shot attempts in the opening half.
Kaya-Iloilo broke the tie early in the second half with Daniels converting from a pass by Negrense Jayson Panhay.
The Ilonggos doubled the lead at the 72nd minute. Omura rebounded from a miss for an inside hit before going for the kill at the 81st minute with Roberts’ conversion from just inside the box from a feed by Daniels.
Three-peat League champions Ceres-Negros FC, on the other hand, recovered from an early deficit to pull off a 4-3 escape over Stallion-Laguna FC over at the Biñan Football Stadium in Laguna.
Stallion-Laguna started strong with back-to-back goals from Edris Najm and Abou Sy but it was quickly negated by two straight conversions from Schrock and Ott for the Ceres-Negros.
The Busmen continued its run in the second half with Schrock and Ott nailing a goal each for a 4-2 edge.
Stallion-Laguna made its last push with Ilonggo Jan Jesus Melliza converting at the 85th minute but could not convert a follow up goal.
The Kaya-Iloilo and Ceres-Negros championship match is on Nov. 16 with the venue still to be announced./PN
