LEO Maquiling scored twice while goalkeeper Artuz Cezar recorded his fourth clean sheet of the UAAP men’s football tournament as Ateneo overwhelmed University of the East, 3-0, to set in motion its second round campaign on a high note yesterday at the UP Football Stadium.

Fernando Roxas produced the season’s earliest goal in the second minute courtesy of Kofi Agyei cross to open the Blue Eagles account.

Skipper Maquiling then converted on a set piece 15 minutes later to double Ateneo’s lead.

Maquiling then nailed a spot kick just before the halftime break to give the Blue Eagles a three-goal cushion which they protected until the final whistle.

Ateneo improved to 14 points, one off defending champion Far Eastern University’s 15.

For coach JP Merida, the impressive result gave the Blue Eagles a major boost heading into their Sunday showdown with the league-leading Tamaraws.

“The first game in the second round it’s very important for all the teams. Of course, for us so I’m very happy with the result we got that clear three points, my players are very sharp in the early 10 minutes thats the reason we scored,” said Merida.

Coming off a 1-1 draw against fabled rival La Salle to end the first round, Ateneo is simply happy to get back on track.

“But we have five more games of course we need to concentrate for our next game. Top four is already there, but if you’re not performing for the last game it’s really difficult to reach there so looking forward for our big game on Sunday against FEU. We need to prepare we have two days to prepare, it’s very tight. FEU, all their players are fresh because they came off many days of break, of course. We’re ready to challenge the topnotcher of the first round,” said Merida.

Maquiling had a couple of chances of completing a hat-trick in the second half but was not able to finish.

The Blue Eagles also won convincingly over the Red Warriors in the first round, 4-0.

UE remained in sixth place with three points.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Theodore P. Jurado