Joyce Gemberva of UST in action against NU in the UAAP Season 89 women's football tournament, September 26, 2026 at the UP Diliman Football Stadium. UAAP Media
MANILA — University of Santo Tomas is on the board in the UAAP Season 89 women's football tournament after a comfortable 3-0 win over newcomer National University, Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
UST opened its campaign with a slim loss to Ateneo de Manila University last Wednesday but responded well against National U.
Stephanie Logastua found the opener just three minutes into the match, before Joyce Gemberva unleashed a shot from the edge of the box to double UST's cushion in the 34th minute.
Rojana Nemenzo made it 3-0 with a corner kick in the 44th minute.
It could have been an even bigger lead for the Lady Booters, but NU goalkeeper Quenie Magarso came up with a crucial save to deny Princess Amilhamja's penalty just after Logastua opened the scoring.
The only blemish on UST's dominant outing was the forced substitution of Nemenzo in the second half due to an undisclosed injury.
"Naging positive way namin yung talo namin sa last game namin against Ateneo," said assistant coach Hazel Lustan, who took over on the sidelines with head coach Marjo Allado away completing an AFC Pro License course.
"Naging minsdet ng team namin ngayon gusto namin bumawi sa mga remaining games namin, pero syempre sabi naming mga coaches na one game at a time. Palagi namin sinasabi lahat ng teams tina-take namin na malakas sila para di maging kampyansa yung mindset namin sa games."
Both schools will return to the same venue on Wednesday. UST will look to build on its victory against defending champion Far Eastern University at 7 p.m., while NU will open the day against De La Salle University at 2 p.m. in search of its first point.