LA SALLE opened the second round of the UAAP women’s football tournament by drubbing University of Santo Tomas 3-0 on Saturday at the UP Football Stadium.

Angelica Teves, the reigning Best Striker, broke the floodgates in the 35th minute to score her second goal of the tournament.

La Salle put the game to bed in the second half, when Chenny Mae Danoso doubled her side’s lead with a fine finish in the 74th minute while striker Shai del Campo wrapped up the rout by putting the ball at the back of the net in stoppage time.

The result allowed La Salle to leapfrog its first-round tormentor Far Eastern University to first place in the standings courtesy of a superior goal difference of plus-14 compared to the latter’s plus-12 with both teams having 12 points each.

Despite the win, coach Alvin Ocampo was not completely satisfied with what he saw from his players and it was back to the drawing board before his team faces Ateneo on April 20 at 4 p.m. on the same Diliman pitch.

“We wanted to try a different system today but the thing is it didn’t work to our expectations,” said Ocampo.

“We have to regroup as coaches to do the necessary adjustments for the Ateneo game because that will dictate how we’re gonna play the whole second round,” he added.

Later, University of the Philippines made sure that lightning did not strike twice by routing Katipunan neighbor Ateneo 6-0.

Unlike in their first-round encounter last March 16 that saw the Blue Eagles earn a 2-2 draw, the Fighting Maroons were rampant right from the get-go.

Kam Mangrobang set the tone for UP with a goal just four minutes into the contest while Martina Torres doubled the Fighting Maroons’ lead in the 11th minute.

Anya Fuentes then sealed a brace in the 22 and first-half added time to give UP a four-goal cushion before the halftime break, which showed that lessons were applied this time around.

“In the first game kasi, we didn’t start strong. We made some silly mistakes and Ateneo scored first,” said coach Anto Gonzales.

“Ang Ateneo, the longer the game goes, mas nabubuhayan so the objectives talaga for this game was to start really strong and get an early goal.”

Come the second half, Hannah Muros and Drea Montilla completed the rout for the Fighting Maroons in the 70th and in stoppage time respectively.

UP remained in the hunt for a ticket to the Final by solidifying its hold of third place. The Fighting Maroons have seven points and a plus-2 goal difference on the back of two wins, one draw and two losses.

For UP, it is about controlling what it can control considering that it is five points behind league leaders La Salle and FEU with three matches left in its campaign.

“We’re just hoping na we do our part kasi it’s not really entirely in our hands,” said Gonzales. “We’ll try to go as far as we can and siguro swertehin na lang na mag drop ng points ang La Salle (and FEU).

Ateneo remained in fourth place with four points and a minus-17 goal difference after one win, one draw and three losses.

On the other hand, UST fell to its fifth straight defeat this season, which eliminated the school from qualifying for the Final.

Standings: DLSU 12 pts. (+14 GD), FEU 12 (+12), UP 7 (+2), Ateneo 4 (-17), UST 0 (-11)