Kanoa FC bags MSL 1 and 2 titles
Kanoa Football Club in the Marianas Soccer League 1 and MSL 2 bagged the championships last Sunday at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.
The MSL 1 finals was a nail-biter as 2023’s champions Matansa (Eleven Tiger) put it all out on the line to defend their title. However, a couple of blunders at the net resulted in Kanoa’s 4-2 win.
Matansa drew first blood after a few heated exchanges on the pitch to open the game in the 22nd minute. For the next 15 minutes, Matansa maintained a 1-nil lead over Kanoa until Tyler Omelau got a hold of the ball and tied it all up, 1-1, in the 39th minute.
As the battle of supremacy waged on in the second half, Matansa’s Jonne Navarro took back the lead, 2-1, in the 42nd minute.
With Matansa carrying just a 1-goal lead, Kanoa hurriedly sprinted throughout the pitch to find an opening and tie it up once more. It paid off in the 47th minute as Kanoa’s Markus Toves connected with their second goal and tied the game up, 2-2.
When it came down to it toward the end of the match, Matansa blew the tie after a couple of mistaken identities. Two consecutive goals were scored in their own goal to give Kanoa the advantage, 4-2.
Matansa could not recover from the blunder as time ran out and handed the championship to Kanoa.
In the third-place match before the finals, MP United defeated Paire FC, 4-1.
The Golden Boot Award winner for MSL 1 was Markus Toves who scored 14 goals.
With Omelau and Toves on Kanoa’s MSL 1 team are Merrick Toves, Daniell Pablo, Brian Lubao, Andrew Omelau, Andrew Sablan, Ruben Guerrero, Mark Chavez, Maximus Taitano, Izeah Jolo, Vicente Reyes, John Quidato, Nolan Ngewakl, Paul Lizama, Adrian Lubao, Jim Maniago, Christian Negara, and Aloyzeus Angeles.
Before the MSL 2 championship showdown, Kanoa FC was handed the title after Paire forfeited the match due to an insufficient number of players.
Third place went to Old B Bank after they blanked MP United, 6-0.
The Golden Boot Award for MSL 2 went to Old B Bank’s John Canape who knocked in 13 goals.
In Kanoa’s MSL 2 team are Clayton Izuka, Hannah Robertson, Jin Seok Seo, Dhiraj Chhetri, Jerry Tan, Jeremiah Benavente, Hojin Woo, Risty Vergara, Weiping Chen, Irish Pagarao, Keiffer Pido, Christian Achas, Jose Lopez, Fradel Sedillo, Jose Jinang, Jack Phan, Paulo Quidato, Dindo Pablo, Carl Salas, Jinxian Chen, and Ensan Cui.
Published by Saipan Tribune - May 29, 2024
