MANILA – The Philippine women’s football team continued its dominance in the 2020 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament after a 5-1 win over Mongolia on Sunday at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan.
Shelah Mae Cadag notched her second hat trick in the tournament while Camille Rodriguez and Kyla Inquig added a conversion each for the Let Dimzon-mentored Filipina squad.
Cadag, a University of Santo Tomas standout, allowed the Philippines to surge to a quick 2-0 start when she struck past Mongolia’s goalkeeper Erdenebileg Tsendjav in the eighth and 15th minute.
But Mongolia was able to pull one back just before halftime break with Undrakh Ulziibayar slotting her penalty kick past the defense of Philippine goalie Inna Palacios.
The Philippines came out charging in the second half with Rodriguez increasing the lead to 2-1 on a 60th minute hit. An Inquig conversion followed in the 81st minute to pad the lead further.
With the victory already within reach, Cadag completed her hat trick when she slotted on past Tsendjav in the 85th minute for her seventh conversion overall in three matches so far.
The Philippines hopes to clinch an outright berth to the next phase of the competition when it closes its preliminary round match against Group A leader Chinese Taipei on Tuesday night.
The next round of the qualifiers will be held in April next year. The host country has yet to be identified./PN
