KAYA Iloilo advanced to the finals of the 2018 Philippines Football League Copa Paulino Alcantara after a 3-2 win over Stallion Laguna in the semifinals on Sunday at the Iloilo Sports Complex.
Robert Lopez Mendy spearheaded the Ilonggos’ offense with a hat trick to set up a finals match with either Davao Aguilas or JPV Marikina, whose game was still played as of this writing.
Stallion got two early shots on the goal but Kaya’s Nathaniel Villanueva was there to foil the attempts. The Ilonggos drew first blood at the third minute on Lopez Mendy’s hit from way out.
After consecutive misses from Jovin Bedic, Kaya managed to stretch the advantage to 2 with Lopez Mendy easily converting from a corner kick by Bedic in the 15th minute.
Stallion countered with 2 straight goals – a penalty kick by Fitch Arboleda in the 20th minute and a follow-up by Carlo Polli from a Jesus Melliza miss – to even things up at the half.
Kaya quickly snatched the advantage at the onset of second half with a Lopez Mendy hit. Stallion had multiple opportunities to tie the score but Kaya tightened its defense to escape with a slim win.
“The mindset of the team heading into this game is, we know we have home advantage, and I think it helped the team in playing with more energy to reach the finals,” said Kaya team manager Chris Greatwich.
The final round match will be held on Oct. 27 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium./PN
