Filipinas demolishes Fiji 8-0 to continue SEA Games fine-tuning

MANILA, Philippines, April 12 ------ The Philippine women's football team continued their preparation for the 31st Southeast Asian Games next month with an 8-0 romp of Fiji in an international friendly at the Western Sydney Wanderers FC Football Park in Australia on Monday.

The Filipinas picked up where they left off on Thursday where they scored a 7-2 victory over the Fijians. Sofia Harrison opened the scoring this time for the Philippines when she got past Fiji's goalkeeper in the 10th minute for her first international goal for the country. Then forward Quinley Quezada, who scored two goals against Fiji last week, doubled the lead by the 25th minute. But not before Anicka Castaneda worked to deny a chance by their opponents to equalize earlier in the game at the 23-minute mark. Katrina Guillou then scored two of her three goals of the day in quick succession, netting goals in the 31st and 36th minutes.

After the half time break, goals continued to pour in for the Filipinas when Carleigh Frilles, who was celebrating her birthday, got past the keeper four minutes after the restart. Guillou then completed her first hat trick for the Filipinas to push it to 6-0 after 54 minutes of play. Teen defender Isabella Flanigan also scored her maiden goal for the Filipinas, finding the back of the net at the hour mark to tie the Filipinas' seven-goal output last week. Just when it looked like things were already wrapped up, birthday girl Frilles added another goal in added time to help the Filipinas finish at 8-0.

The win thus marked back-to-back convincing victories for the Filipinas during their camp in Sydney ahead of the SEA Games. More international friendlies could possibly be in the works for the national team before they fly to Hanoi for the biennial games in early May. The Filipinas are looking for a podium finish and possibly the gold medal as they build up for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia next year.

Source: philstar.com