By Jean Malanum
MANILA – De La Salle University edged Ateneo de Manila University, 1-0, to clinch a semifinal berth in the UAAP Season 89 women’s football tournament at the UP Diliman Football Stadium late Saturday.
Third-year standout Dani Tanjangco from De La Salle Zobel delivered the decisive goal in the 36th minute.
La Salle bounced back from a 0-1 loss to defending champion Far Eastern University on Oct. 7 and a 1-1 draw with University of Santo Tomas last Wednesday.
“Happy naman kasi after a loss tapos draw, we’re getting back sa track namin. Continuous nagle-learn ‘yung team so I’m very happy about it (I’m happy because, following a loss and then a draw, we’re getting back on track. The team is continuously learning, so I’m very happy about that),” coach Joyce Landagan said.
La Salle now has 16 points and needs six more from its remaining three matches to secure the No. 2 seed.
Landagan stressed the importance of sustaining the team’s momentum to secure the twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals.
“That’s one step closer pero kailangan namin mag-focus sa remaining games namin. Important din kasi ‘yun, ‘yung performance namin doon kasi ‘yung ranking din; it will be good for us if mag-one kami or mag-two kami. At least kunin namin ‘yung twice-to-beat status kung kaya namin. We will still focus doon sa bawat game namin — one game at a time — but we’re happy na nasa Final Four kami (That’s one step closer, but we need to focus on our remaining games. Those are important too, our performance in them will affect our ranking. It would be great for us to finish first or second. Ideally, we want to secure the twice-to-beat advantage if we can. We’ll continue to focus on each game — one game at a time — but we’re happy to have reached the Final Four),” she said.
Ateneo slipped to fourth place with nine points, behind the University of the Philippines, which improved to 12 points after beating National University, 2-0, earlier Saturday.
The Blue Eagles remain in contention for a semifinal berth, holding a five-point lead over fifth-placed UST.
Both teams return to action Wednesday at the same venue, with La Salle facing NU at 2 p.m. and Ateneo taking on UST at 4:30 p.m. (Jean Malanum/PNA)
MATCH-WINNER. Dani Tanjangco’s goal lifted De La Salle University to a 1-0 win over Ateneo de Manila University in the UAAP Season 89 women’s football tournament at the UP Diliman Football Stadium on Saturday night (Oct. 17, 2026). The victory secured La Salle’s semifinal berth.
