Lady Archers’ winning streak ends at six after big loss against NU

IMG_0515-2

The De La Salle Lady Archers suffered their first defeat in the hands of last season’s runners up the NU Lady Bulldogs, 77-55.

NU started the game with a barrage of points inside the paint, which gave them an early lead. Lady Archers Inna Corcuera and Nicole Garcia tried to keep it with baskets in the paint but Bernardino kept scoring for the Lady Bulldogs. Antiquiere hit a triple with just a few seconds remaining in the quarter to give National University a 23-14 lead after the first.

The 2nd quarter did not go any better for the Lady Archers as NU scored from all over the court. NU’s lead ballooned to 19 midway through the quarter via triples from Antiquiere and inside baskets from Bernardino. DLSU gained a little momentum towards the end of the first half to cut NU’s lead to just 16 after 2 quarters.

At the start of the second half DLSU was able to crash the boards but failed to convert in the offensive end. The Lady Archers had a lot of open looks from behind the arc but their shots were not falling. DLSU applied the full court press more aggressively in the latter minutes of the 3rd quarter and was able to cut the lead to just 12 points but gave up too many offensive boards to the Lady Bulldogs and the lead was up to 18 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter was a huge quarter for the NU Lady Bulldogs as they dominated both the paint and the perimeter. NU decoded DLSU’s choking press defense which led to quick baskets inside the paint. La Salle simply had no answer to the blows that NU was giving them as they succumbed to the Lady Bulldogs 77-55.

 

Badminton captains: leading the shuttlers to glory

_DSC0930

Danica Peligrino and EJ Boac, captains of De La Salle University’s badminton teams, have one goal for this coming UAAP Season 77 and that is to lead their teams in capturing their respective championships.

Rough past

Last UAAP Season 76 was a tough one for the Green Shuttlers as the men’s team was poised to make it to the finals but only managed to finish 5th.  For 18-year old captain EJ Boac, their team did not lack individual determination, but what they lacked was unity, “In the previous season, our team was good but we lacked unity and our mindsets varied.”

As for the women’s team, they were able to exceed expectations. The Lady Shuttlers were able to make it to the championships but fell in the hands of arch rival Ateneo. Even with her team’s strong performance, 4th year player and team captain Danica Peligrino still had mixed emotions about last season, “Nag expect kami na magchachampion yung men’s team namin but nagkabaligtad, kami yung nakapasok sa championship. Masaya kami but at the same time malungkot kasi yung goal namin is both men’s and women’s team ang papasok sa championships.” (We expected our men’s team to win the championship but we were the ones who made it to the championships. We’re happy but at the same time sad cause our goal was to have both our men and women’s teams in the championships).

Moving forward and leading their teams

As to what needs to be changed for them to have a better performance this coming season, EJ said that his team needs to have “a unified way of goal setting and goal reaching”. Although EJ feels the pressure of being the team captain, he does his part by instilling discipline to his teammates and by always encouraging them to attend their training sessions.

As for Danica, she feels that what her team needs to have is a strong heart, “Strong heart na kahit anong mangyari lalaban at lalaban para sa DLSU, sa family at friends namin and most especially para sa coach namin and sa OSD” (Strong heart that no matter what happens we will fight for DLSU, our families and friends and most specially our coach and the OSD).

Expectations

As for their chances of winning the UAAP Season 77 badminton championship, EJ thinks that this coming season will be tough for every UAAP team but he feels that his team can win as long as they take every chance and drop every fear. The Green Shuttler’s captain is also hoping that the badminton team can contribute to DLSU’s quest to winning another general championship.

When asked if she thinks her team has a good chance of taking it all the way this year, Danica answered emphatically with, “Yes! Definitely”.

It’s time

The UAAP Season 77 badminton games will begin on Saturday, August 9, 2014 at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall, as the DLSU Green Shuttlers face Adamson University at 9am while the DLSU Lady Shuttlers battle Far Eastern University at 1pm.

Lady Archers’ Class of 2014: On the final road to legacy

_JGF6342

This season, graduating players of the DLSU Lady Archers, namely Miller Ong, Trisha Piatos, Nicky Garcia, Cass Santos, Inna Corcuera, and Niky Scott had one thing to say when asked how they felt about winning the UAAP season 76 women’s basketball championship, “Winning last year’s crown was the best feeling ever.” On their last playing year for La Salle, the ladies are poised to perform vital roles in keeping the women’s basketball crown in their possession.

The batch of players leaving Taft next season is laden with talented players Coach Tyrone Bautista leaned on, and will lean one for the last time en route to a second championship. Miller Ong is a crafty point guard who the team can rely on in distributing the ball and also contribute in scoring baskets especially when needed. Piatos is a terrific combo guard known to be dangerous as a shooter and a playmaker. Garcia is a consistent contributor through her hustle and fundamental yet effective way of scoring baskets. Santos and Corcuera are towers that provide the spunk needed in the paint. Three-point specialist Scott is a tall player for a two or a three who can pose problems for opposing players in both defense and offense through mismatches. It would be a tall task for the incoming set of players to fill in their shoes once they depart the UAAP basketball scene as Lady Archers.

Defending their title _JGF6142

The road to De La Salle University’s first championship in women’s basketball in more than a decade sure felt good but they are not done yet.

For this coming UAAP season 77, the senior players of the team still have their eyes on the prize. For team captain and former UAAP rookie of the year awardee Miller Ong, besides their defense, it will be the team’s quickness that will be the Lady Archers’ main advantage over the other teams. “Maliit kami pero masisigurado ko na bawa’t isa sa’min, ‘yung bilis namin, walang makakatapat.” (We are a small team but I can assure you that our speed will be unmatched by other teams).

As for whom they feel is their toughest opponent for this coming season, every single one of them answered by saying that their toughest opponent will always be themselves. “Toughest opponent this year will be myself since this season I should already accept the challenge that I am already one of the veterans so I have to give all-out effort” says De La Salle-Zobel alumnus, Inna Corcuera. Another seasoned veteran, Cass Santos, who is in the process of recovering from a chronic injury, “I think my toughest opponent for this year will be my health. I tore my ACL four months ago but I’m playing it out this year.”

Meanwhile, last season’s finals MVP, Trisha Piatos does not feel added pressure despite the fact that they are the defending champions and that she is already on her last year. For her, pressure is always there that is why they are already used to it.

As for their chances on winning back-to-back championships in the UAAP, the seniors of the Lady Archers all feel that they have a big change of winning it all once again. Dominque Scott, who was also a former DLSU Lady Booter said “I think we really have a big chance of getting back-to-back because of, first of all, our championship experience and second of all is that our team, we all have one goal and we are all in the same page and as long as we do what our coach tells us I think we can go for that back-to-back championships.”

_JGF5611Leaving a mark

The outgoing Lady Archers would like to be remembered as players who never gave up. “I want to be remembered as the player who never gives up and the player who works dayin and out just to win for the school, for God,” says Trisha Piatos while Nicole Garcia wants to be remembered as a player with fire in her eyes “Laging sinasabi sa’kin na ako daw. ‘yung mata ko parang laging on fire. Lagi sa’kin sinasabi ng coaches noon na ako daw may “eyes on fire.” Siguro gusto ko maalala nila ko na ganun, ‘yung player na laging intense, laging “eyes on fire.” (I am always told that my eyes always seem that they are on fire. The coaches used to always tell me that I have eyes on fire. I think I want to be remembered as that, a player who is always intense and always has eyes on fire).

Quest for the back-to-back begins

It is a perfect start for The Lady Archers after beating University of Santo Tomas, Adamson University and the University of the Philippines in their first three matches in the ongoing UAAP season 77. Their next game will be on July 27, Sunday, against the UE Lady Warriors.

Green Archers stymied by Tamaraws in season opener

AVO

The DLSU Green Archers opened their title defense for the 77th UAAP Season with a 77-82 defeat against the FEU Tamaraws earlier at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Almond Vosotros led La Salle with 18 points and 3 assists while Jeron Teng added 14 points and 4 rebounds.  In addition, Jason Perkins had double-double feat with 11 points and 11 boards.

On the other hand, Mike Tolomia scored a game-high 23 points and 5 assists while Mark Belo added 20 points and 4 rebounds.

After coasting through the first half, a sudden twist of fate placed the Archers on the tough side. The FEU Tamaraws sizzled in the final quarter as the La Salle couldn’t defend both the paint and the perimeter. The Archers also took a lot of forced shots and missed a lot of crucial free throws at the end of the game.

With one last attempt for a comeback, Tolomia dampened the hopes of the defending champions after hitting a crucial three-pointer to swell the lead to 75-71.

For their next game, the DLSU Green Archers will face arch nemesis Ateneo this July 20, 11:00 am, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

UAAP press conference: Unity in Excellence

UAAP Presscon 214

The UAAP season 77 hosts, University of the East, held the annual UAAP press conference today at Gloria Maris Araneta as they presented this season’s theme, Unity in Excellence.

We are one

The press conference started with the opening statement from the UAAP president for season 77, UE’s Carmelita Mateo. The theme Unity in Excellence according to her means that we are united in the triumph and excellence of every student-athlete. She addressed not only every participating university but also the media.

Coaches and their respective teams

Each coach of every participating school then gave brief introductions about their respective teams, except for the coaches of UP and ADMU who could not make it to the press conference for their teams are currently abroad.

Just like the theme of last year’s victorious campaign, coach Juno Sauler of the DLSU Green Archers said that they plan to take it day by day and just see how the season goes along after every game and then work on it on practice. He also hopes that all their games will be exciting for all the fans and they will do their best this season as well.

Coaches and representatives of the other seven teams seem to grasp the Sauler-imposed system last year as almost all of them spoke to the similar tune of “getting better.”

Former DLSU coach Derrick Pumaren, who will mentor the hosts University of the East, has a very young team at his disposal. He mentioned that everyone can expect his team to play hard every game and that they will try their best to make it to the next round.

Adamson University’s new coach, former PBA player Kenneth Duremdes, said that his team is in a rebuilding phase so he is hoping that the players will respond in the quickest way possible. His plan is to take it day by day and he is also hoping for some upsets. He ended by saying that the important thing for them is that they learn and they play their best every game

Coach Nash Racela of the FEU Tamaraws was next and he stated the fact that they lost a lot of key players namely, Terrence Romeo, RR Garcia, Gryann Mendoza among others. FEU’s target for this year, a team that finished third in Season 76, is to do better than last year.

National University’s coach Eric Altamirano said that he has a group of promising players and he just hopes that they will be able to improve as the season comes alongside the hope that his new players will adapt with the old players’ playing style. He set a target for the Bulldogs to reach the finals in the long run and his short-term goals are to make it to the final four and getting better after each game.

UST’s new head coach, Bong Dela Cruz, broke down the composition of his players as well. Their goal is to simply improve every day, every game and every practice.

Yuri Escueta spoke on behalf of the Blue Eagles—still in Korea in preparation for the upcoming season. Ateneo also plans to take it one game at a time and they will try to make this season a “successful” one.

As for the young but talented UP, their team is currently abroad for some games. They said that half of their lineup is composed of rookies and that they plan to play according to their team’s height.

DLSU is the barometer

The seven other schools’ delegates agreed that the title favorite for this coming season is De La Salle University. The main reason that they cited is the fact that the roster of DLSU is still intact. Altamirano even said that DLSU’s roster for this season is even better than the one they had last season.

Coach Juno, however, stated that he doesn’t focus too much on the expectations and opinions of others but rather his focus is on performing every single game which to him is what’s more important.

What to expect

Commissioner Andy Jao said that his main part for this coming season is to ensure fair officiating. He also said that overturning of game results will be very unlikely and that the officiating for this coming season will not necessarily be better but more of consistent. He also said that the teams are very competitive this year and that hopefully the games will really be exciting.

When asked about his thoughts on La Salle’s defense of the overall crown, OSD Director Emmanuel Calanog said “As with every year we prepare our athletes with a goal in mind to the general championship. We were able to get good recruits this year. Hopefully we will be able to defend the 6 championships that we won last year and hopefully convert our 7 second place finishes. Hopefully we will be able to defend the general championship”.

In other news, the legal counsel of the UAAP also addressed the residency issue and said that there is a discrepancy between the bill that was passed in the Senate and the one that is yet to be passed in the lower house. He further explained that for this season there would not be major policy changes in the UAAP.

It’s time

As the UAAP season 77 approaches, it is time for DLSU to defend their crown. It is time once again for all Lasallians to unite and cheer for the green and white. The UAAP season 77 kicks off this Saturday, July 12 at the Araneta Coliseum when the Green Archers and the FEU Tamaraws meet in last season’s Final Four rematch.

 

Photos of the press conference can be viewed by clicking the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.525664827562275.1073741982.343223135806446&type=1